Breaking Peronism's spell

摘要

WHEN Mauricio Macri won Argentina's presidential election in November 2015, his victory appeared to signal the turning of Latin America's "pink tide" of left-wing government. The election ended eight years of rule under Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, a political heir of Juan Peron, an irresponsible populist president of the mid-20th century. In other countries, setbacks for the left followed. Venezuela's opposition won control of the legislature from the ruling socialist party in December 2015. Brazil's left-wing president, Dilma Rousseff, was impeached last year; her successor, Michel Temer, is a pro-business centrist. Better economic policies ensued in both Argentina and Brazil, though not in Venezuela, where the autocratic government squashed the legislature.