From left and right to democracy and autocracy: Rethinking Latin America’s political divide - Video
In an extensive conversation with Bolivian academic and political analyst Edgar Cadima, Global South World explored how Latin America’s long-standing tension between left and right has evolved into something far more complex.
After decades of polarisation, he argues that the region’s real conflict today is between democracy and autocracy.
Cadima, a retired academic and former public official, has spent more than twenty years analysing Latin America’s political transformations.
Before addressing this, he clarifies that neither the left nor the right are monolithic. Within the left, he distinguishes between the populist, authoritarian current known as 21st-century socialism—seen in countries like Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba and Bolivia—and a more democratic, social left focused on inclusion and citizens’ rights. On the right, he identifies a neoliberal, populist trend linked to leaders such as Milei, Trump and Bolsonaro, alongside a more traditional liberal right that has largely faded but still seeks to regain space in national politics.
In his view, both the left and the right have evolved into populist and authoritarian versions of themselves, making it increasingly difficult to distinguish one from the other. “Maduro’s authoritarianism and Trump’s authoritarianism,” he points out, “are different in ideology but similar in conduct.”
For Cadima, the deeper problem is that populism has outlived ideology. Both left and right have adopted authoritarian traits and use democracy in a utilitarian way — not as a principle, but as a means of preserving power, consolidating parties, and protecting entrenched elite interests, known in Bolivia as "the rosca" and in Argentina as "the political caste". From his perspective within what he calls the democratic left, the true confrontation in Latin America is no longer ideological. “It is not between left and right,” he says, “but between democracy and autocracy.”
According to Cadima, both camps are now operating within systems that sabotage democracy from within. Power becomes concentrated in a person or a small circle; parliaments may function, but freedom of expression and opposition are restricted, turning the system into the antithesis of democracy.
He envisions democracy in a broader sense: constitutional, institutional, and politically organised freedom that extends beyond voting and is sustained by citizens’ active participation. One that values dialogue, empathy, and diversity — thus closing the way to polarisation and violent confrontation. “Plurality,” he insists, “should not be seen as the enemy of unity, but as the foundation of a nation built on diversity.”
Rebuilding trust, Cadima concludes, requires more than regime change. Latin America must enter a new era — one that revives democratic conviction and restores faith in politics itself. In his vision, the region’s next political chapter will not be defined by who wins the ideological battle, but by who manages to protect and strengthen democracy.
This story is written and edited by the Global South World team, you can contact us here.
