History of South America - Recent History

Recent History

See also: Washington consensus and Pink tide

South America, like many other continents, became a battlefield for the superpowers during the Cold War in the late 20th century.

In the 1960s and 1970s, the governments of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay were overthrown or displaced by U.S.-aligned military dictatorships. These detained tens of thousands of political prisoners, many of whom were tortured and/or killed (on inter-state collaboration, see Operation Condor). Economically, they began a transition to neoliberal economic policies. They placed their own actions within the U.S. Cold War doctrine of "National Security" against internal subversion. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Peru suffered from an internal conflict (see Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement and Shining Path). Revolutionary movements and right-wing military dictatorships have been common, but starting in the 1980s a wave of democratization came through the continent, and democratic rule is now widespread. Allegations of corruption remain common, and several nations have seen crises which have forced the resignation of their presidents, although normal civilian succession has continued. International indebtedness became a notable problem, as most recently illustrated by Argentina's default in the early 21st century.

In recent years, with deep economic and social crisis provoked by neoliberal policies, the right wing lost appeal in the region (with the major exception being Colombia) and the election of a sequence of left wing presidents began with Hugo Chávez' victory on the 1998 presidential election in Venezuela. As a matter of fact, The Nation described Dilma Rousseff's victory in the 2010 Brazilian election as a defeat for the Washington Consensus.

Despite the move to the left, South America remains largely capitalist and is enjoying its best years of economic growth. The Brazilian GDP, for instance, is expected to grow 7.5% in 2010, second only to the People's Republic of China in the world.

The list of left wing South American presidents is, by date of election, the following:

• 1998: Hugo Chávez, Venezuela
• 1999: Ricardo Lagos, Chile
• 2002: Luís Inácio Lula da Silva, Brazil
• 2002: Lucio Gutiérrez, Ecuador
• 2003: Néstor Kirchner, Argentina
• 2004: Tabaré Vázquez, Uruguay
• 2005: Evo Morales, Bolivia
• 2006: Michelle Bachelet, Chile
• 2006: Rafael Correa, Ecuador
• 2007: Cristina Kirchner, Argentina
• 2008: Fernando Lugo, Paraguay
• 2009: José Mujica, Uruguay
• 2010: Dilma Rousseff, Brazil
• 2011: Ollanta Humala, Peru

In 2008, the Union of South American Nations (USAN) was founded, revealing South American ambition of economic integration, with plans for political integration in the European Union style. This was seen by American political commentators as a pivotal moment in the loss of U.S. hegemony in the region. According to Noam Chomsky, USAN represents that "for the first time since the European conquest, Latin America began to move towards integration".

South American Heads of State timeline since 1990
Type	1990s										2000s										2010s
	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
Argentina	Carlos Menem										de la Rúa		Eduardo Duhalde	Néstor Kirchner					Cristina Fernández de Kirchner
Bolivia	Jaime Paz Zamora				Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada				Hugo Banzer				Jorge Quiroga	Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada	Carlos Mesa	Eduardo Rodríguez	Evo Morales
Brazil	Fernando Collor de Mello			Itamar Franco			Fernando Henrique Cardoso							Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva								Dilma Rousseff
Chile	Patricio Aylwin Azócar				Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle						Ricardo Lagos Escobar						Michelle Bachelet Jeria				Sebastián Piñera Echenique
Colombia	Virgilio Barco Vargas	César Gaviria Trujillo				Ernesto Samper Pizano				Andrés Pastrana Arango				Álvaro Uribe Vélez								Juan Manuel Santos Calderón
Ecuador	Rodrigo Borja Cevallos			Sixto Durán Ballén				Fabián Alarcón		Jamil Mahuad	Gustavo Noboa			Lucio Gutiérrez		Alfredo Palacio		Rafael Correa
Guyana	Desmond Hoyte			Cheddi Jagan				Sam Hinds	Janet Jagan		Bharrat Jagdeo											Donald Ramotar
Paraguay	Andrés Rodríguez				Juan Carlos Wasmosy					Luis Ángel González Macchi					Nicanor Duarte					Fernando Lugo			Federico Franco
Peru	Alan García Pérez	Alberto Fujimori										Valentín Paniagua	Alejandro Toledo					Alan García Pérez					Ollanta Humala
Suriname	Ramsewak Shankar	Johan Kraag	Ronald Venetiaan					Jules Wijdenbosch				Ronald Venetiaan										Dési Bouterse
Uruguay	Luis Alberto Lacalle					Julio María Sanguinetti					Jorge Batlle					Tabaré Vázquez					José Mujica
Venezuela	Carlos Andrés Pérez Rodríguez			Ramón José Velásquez	Rafael Caldera Rodríguez					Hugo Chávez
Type	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
	1990s										2000s										2010s