Rumors of the Pink Tide's Death Are Greatly Exaggerated | Latin America & Caribbean |Axisoflogic.com

It always feels great when the world conforms to our preconceived notions, especially when the world has failed to do so for a long time.

For the international media and Latin America's right wing, the left's defeat in Argentina's presidential elections on November 22 was immediately hailed as a validation of the narrative that Latin America's leftist resurgence is nothing more than a flash in the pan.

This leftist resurgence—commonly referred to as the Pink Tide—was represented in Argentina by incumbent President Cristina Fernandez, whose party's candidate, leftist Daniel Scioli, lost a runoff vote to the neoliberal Mauricio Macri.

“That ‘pink tide,’ as some called it, seems to be receding as more centrist or conservative voices are gaining ground across the region,” the Washington Post eagerly reported.

Similar sentiments were expressed in an op-ed that appeared in The Economist the next day, which read, “Argentina may be setting a precedent for the rest of the region … Macri’s victory may thus mark the ebbing of the 'pink tide' that has washed over the region since the early 1990s.”

Then came the wave of approval from right-wing leaders from across the region, not to mention the United States.

Back at The Economist, readers were informed the loss of the left in Argentina would now inevitably extend across the region, with “the normal desire of voters in democracies for an alternation of power is now playing against the incumbent governments of the left.”

“Brazil’s left-wing president, Dilma Rousseff, is deeply unpopular. The party that leads Venezuela’s radical socialist regime is likely to be defeated in next month’s election,” they claimed.

Funnily enough, The Economist decided it wasn't worth mentioning Bolivia's leftist President Evo Morales was easily reelected just over a year ago with almost triple the votes of his closest opponent. They likewise turned a blind eye to Ecuador, where leftist President Rafael Correa is currently riding on an approval rating of well over 60 percent—a massive achievement for a leader who has been in office for almost a decade. Another country that fell off the radar was Uruguay, where the left comfortably won the general election in 2014.

What about the countries The Economist did feel were worth mentioning, Brazil and Venezuela? Rousseff is indeed stumbling in the polls, though it may have been worth pointing out she was also re-elected just over a year ago, crushing her neoliberal rival, Aecio Neves. Meanwhile in Venezuela, polls are indeed divided, and everyone is expecting a close election. While Venezuela's pre-election polls are notoriously unreliable, one interesting gauge of voter intent is participation in primaries. When the ruling socialist party, the PSUV, held its primaries in June, over 3 million people cast votes—six times the number of voters who turned out to the primaries of the main opposition coalition, the MUD. In short, things are a little more complicated than The Economist and its right-wing peers would have us believe.

No doubt, the left's loss in Argentina is a loss for the Pink Tide. No doubt, leftists across the region should be observing closely what happens next in Buenos Aires. No doubt, the Pink Tide may suffer more setbacks in the future, just as it may continue to chalk up more victories. The simple fact is the right wing has been predicting the end of the Pink Tide for over a decade, grasping every defeat as evidence of an inevitable, soon-to-come collapse. And what they will never recognize is how Latin America—even those countries with more right-wing governments—has been permanently changed over the last ten to 15 years. Its regional identity and cooperation have been strengthened and it is no longer at the beck and call of the U.S.

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