Unpopular Down South

Andres Oppenheimer writes with wisdom about Latin America for the Miami Herald. Here his topic is region-wide failure of economic growth and consequent unhappiness with political leaders.

Not surprisingly, several of the region’s presidents’ popularity rates have sunk to all-time lows. The popularity of Brazil’s Dilma Rousseff has fallen to 8 percent, and the approval rate of Peru’s Ollanta Humala is about 17 percent, Chile’s Michelle Bachelet, 23 percent; and Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro, 24 percent.

In Peru and Chile, the elected leaders took the countries away from the free market model that had made them successful, seduced by the siren song of populist redistribution. Maduro went in the same direction, continuing the Chavizmo of his predecessor. They all have earned the opprobrium they now experience.