With the inauguration of Brazilian President Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva on Jan. 1, Latin America's six largest economies are now run by leftist governments. In addition to Lula, these leaders include Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador in Mexico, Alberto Fernandez in Argentina, Gabriel Boric in Chile, Gustavo Petro in Colombia and Dina Boluarte in Peru. All of these leaders replaced a more conservative or centrist predecessor and, with the exception of Fernandez and Lopez Obrador, have also all been elected in the past 18 months. This signals that the swing to the ideological left in Latin America is both relatively new and a shift from the region's recent past.
