In discussing the victory of a center-right candidate over his center-left opponent, the NYT told readers that: "The winner, Sebastián Piñera, 60, joins Alan García of Peru, Felipe Calderón of Mexico and Álvaro Uribe of Colombia as clearly right-wing leaders presiding over major Latin American countries, where left-wing candidates with socialist agendas have held more sway in recent years." While a leftist candidate arguably won the actual vote in the last presidential election in Mexico, the government has been in the hands of the center-right for decades. The same is true of Colombia. The current president of Peru, Alan Garcia, could be described as left-wing when we was first elected in the 80s, but this was more than a quarter century ago. In short, there is no evidence, at least in these three countries, of left-wing governments being replaced by more conservative ones in recent years.
--Dean Baker
