The Left That Never Was

In 1998, many North American and European intellectuals hailed the emergence of a new Latin American left when Hugo Chávez ascended to the presidency of Venezuela. Foreign intellectuals who hailed the coming of a new left in Latin America were deceived by rhetoric and wishful thinking. In none of these three countries did governments initiate new democratic structures or novel forms of citizen participation. Neither did they reorganize their economies or find new ways of generating wealth to benefit the poor majority.