Indigenous Mapuche demonstrate against the Vaca Muerta shale-oil and -gas megaproject in Argentine Patagonia. (Photo by Martín Álvarez Mullally/Opsur)
Right-wing presidents are proliferating in Latin America, a trend that in June reached Colombia and—if a recently concluded ballot count holds—also Peru. (See related articles—Pages 4 & 5.) In country after country, the consequences are unfolding: environmental-protection rollbacks, stepped-up resource extraction, and a narrowing of avenues by which rural and Indigenous communities can challenge development projects they deem threats to the ecosystems that sustain them. The view of ecosystem conservation as incompatible with economic growth, an idea that had begun to lose force, is again being promoted from the highest levels of government. And progress in recent years on biodiversity protection laws, energy-transition commitments and regulatory and judicial review of proposed oil and mining projects is being reversed. The swing to the right is being felt across an increasingly large share of the region. Presidents leading it, some harder line than others, include Nayib... [Log in to read more]
