Over the last 18 months, right-wing candidates in Latin America have won the last seven presidential elections. Now the region’s biggest nation might be weeks away. On Sunday, Flávio Bolsonaro, the son of Brazil’s former hard-right president Jair Bolsonaro, received the most votes in the election’s first round, making him a strong favorite for the presidency when he faces off against President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva later this month. Brazilians also gave right-wing politicians control of Congress and governorships across the nation, including four new federal lawmakers with the last name Bolsonaro.
The right’s winning streak had already enabled President Trump’s goal to impose greater U.S. influence over Latin America. But Brazil — Latin America’s largest nation in population, area and economy — has been the biggest missing piece in his growing roster of allies. That will change if Mr. Bolsonaro wins the runoff on Oct. 25.
The Trump administration is bent on exerting new levels of control over the region with tariffs, sanctions, airstrikes, visa revocations, election interventions, an oil blockade on Cuba and the capture of Venezuela’s leader. The State Department has labeled 21 criminal groups in Latin America as terrorist organizations. The Pentagon has carried out 71 strikes on boats in the waters around Latin America, killing nearly 240 people it claimed were drug traffickers.
Mr. Bolsonaro has been an eager Trump supporter for years. He has already said he would add Brazil to the anti-cartel coalition, called the Shield of the Americas, and work with the United States to fight Brazilian gangs. It’s not the first time the U.S. and Latin America have tried to fight drug gangs together. But the degree of ideological alignment across the region, as well as the Trump administration’s willingness to intervene militarily, has made this an exceptional moment.
Source: New York Times Top Stories · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing