{"id":369139,"date":"2026-06-21T13:49:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T13:49:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/369139\/"},"modified":"2026-06-21T13:49:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T13:49:13","slug":"why-parts-of-latin-america-loves-maga","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/369139\/","title":{"rendered":"Why parts of Latin America loves MAGA"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Colombian presidential candidate Abelardo de la Espriella has vowed to crush criminal groups and slash government programs. He promises to bomb \u201cnarco-terrorist\u201d camps and build sprawling mega prisons if he wins Sunday\u2019s runoff election.<\/p>\n

De la Espriella\u2019s views have earned him the vociferous backing of President Trump, who has broken with White House tradition by publicly seeking to tip<\/a> the scales in foreign elections \u2014 particularly in Latin America.<\/p>\n

After Trump gave<\/a> his \u201ccomplete and total endorsement\u201d to De la Espriella, whom he referred to by his nickname, \u201cEl Tigre,\u201d the candidate posted an AI-generated image of a bald eagle and a tiger, with American and Colombian flags waving side by side. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou have paved the way for the people to defeat the entrenched powers that have long held sway,\u201d he wrote to Trump. \u201cIn Colombia, we have now begun to follow the same path.\u201d<\/p>\n

De la Espriella, a political newcomer who built his campaign around gym workout videos and vows to \u201cdisembowel\u201d the left, is part of a new wave of far-right, MAGA-aligned politicians in Latin America openly borrowing from Trump\u2019s playbook, presenting themselves as outsiders who will trim the government, curtail immigration and militarize law enforcement. <\/p>\n

In a region that remains plagued by high crime and inequality after a decades-long period of leftist domination known as the \u201cPink Tide,\u201d the playbook appears working.<\/p>\n

More Latin Americans now identify with the right than at any time over the last two decades, according to polling firm Latinobar\u00f3metro. A series of conservatives have won presidential elections in recent years, giving Trump a slate of willing partners as he seeks to expand U.S. power<\/a> in the region, combat drug cartels and counter growing Chinese influence<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\"President <\/p>\n

President Trump meets with El Salvador\u2019s president, Nayib Bukele, in the Oval Office of the White House on April 14, 2025. <\/p>\n

(Brendan Smialowski \/ AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Among Trump\u2019s many allies are Argentina\u2019s Javier Milei, a libertarian firebrand whose dramatic cuts to state services were a blueprint for Elon Musk\u2019s so-called Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE; and El Salvador\u2019s Nayib Bukele, a mano dura autocrat who housed<\/a> U.S. deportees in his notorious prisons to assist Trump\u2019s immigration crackdown. <\/p>\n

Ecuador\u2019s Daniel Noboa has welcomed U.S. Special Forces, who are attacking drug traffickers in his country, and Chile\u2019s Jos\u00e9 Antonio Kast has pledged a border wall along his country\u2019s frontier with Peru and Bolivia in his quest to \u201cmake Chile great again.\u201d <\/p>\n

Trump might soon gain another ideological bedfellow in Peru with the election of Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of late autocrat Alberto Fujimori. With ballots still being counted, Fujimori was on track for a narrow victory<\/p>\n

In a sea of nations led by conservatives, the left now retains power in just three key countries: Mexico, Colombia and Brazil. <\/p>\n

It faces serious challenges in two of them. <\/p>\n

Ahead of October\u2019s presidential election in Brazil, incumbent Luiz In\u00e1cio Lula da Silva, a leftist stalwart and one of the last vestiges of the Pink Tide, has been polling even with Fl\u00e1vio Bolsonaro, the son of former President Jair Bolsonaro<\/a>, a Trump ally convicted of convening a Jan. 6-style insurrection.<\/p>\n

\"President <\/p>\n

Brazil\u2019s President Jair Bolsonaro, right, with President Trump during a dinner at Trump\u2019s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., on March 7, 2020.<\/p>\n

(Alan Santos \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n

And then there\u2019s Colombia, where De la Espriella, a criminal defense attorney, surged ahead in the first round of voting and this weekend faces off against Sen. Iv\u00e1n Cepeda, an ally of leftist President Gustavo Petro. <\/p>\n

Petro drew Trump\u2019s ire by denouncing the U.S. military campaign to oust<\/a> leftist President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro of Venezuela and a spate of lethal<\/a> U.S. attacks on alleged drug boats.<\/p>\n

Petro slammed Trump\u2019s endorsement of De la Espriella, calling on Colombians to \u201cvote freely and not allow ourselves to become either slaves or anyone\u2019s colony.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum also accused Trump of electoral interference after the U.S. announced drug trafficking charges against several members of her ruling Morena party and The Times revealed<\/a> that two more sitting governors are under investigation. <\/p>\n

\u201cIs it truly a legitimate interest to combat organized crime?\u201d Sheinbaum asked of the U.S. investigations. \u201cOr are we perhaps witnessing how sectors of the American far right … intend to influence the 2027 election in our country?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"President <\/p>\n

President Trump meets with Argentine President Javier Milei during the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 23, 2025, in New York. <\/p>\n

(Evan Vucci \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n

The White House has declined to comment on Sheinbaum\u2019s criticism. But Trump earlier this month warned Mexico that his administration is \u201cfocused on coming in by land\u201d to deter drug trafficking.<\/p>\n

\u201cPresident Trump has been clear that Mexico must do more to combat the drug cartels running rampant in their country,\u201d a White House official told The Times when asked whether Trump is planning a military operation there.<\/p>\n

Trump, who publicly backed Kast and President Nasry Asfura of Honduras, as well as Milei\u2019s political party ahead of Argentina\u2019s midterm elections last fall, has openly mused<\/a> that he should charge money for endorsement of leaders in foreign countries. <\/p>\n

Guillaume Long, who served as foreign minister in Ecuador under leftist President Rafael Correa and who is now a fellow at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, criticized Trump\u2019s \u201cunprecedented, unabashed interventionism in Latin American politics.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a number of taboos that have been broken,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Long added that Latin America is mirroring the United States in its political divisions. \u201cI think we\u2019re likely to see in the coming decades a very polarized politics,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd that doesn\u2019t bode very well for political stability.\u201d<\/p>\n

Much of Trump\u2019s activity in the region, including the deposing of Maduro, has been presented as part of a war on drug cartels, which the White House has formally declared terrorist organizations. Long described that rationale as a \u201cpretext\u201d for expanding U.S. political and economic influence in the region. <\/p>\n

\"Nicolas <\/p>\n

Nicol\u00e1s Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, are escorted by federal agents as they make their way to an armored car for a trip to a federal courthouse in Manhattan on Jan. 5. <\/p>\n

(XNY\/Star Max\/GC Images)<\/p>\n

He said he believed that focus on cartels had pushed some Latin American politicians to the right \u201cbecause they think being security hawks will make them popular with the Trump administration.\u201d <\/p>\n

But James Bosworth, the founder of Hxagon, a company that provides political risk analysis in Latin America, said many leaders in the region have come to tough-on-crime policies on their own.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that some of the hemisphere is willing to play along with it because the hemisphere has issues, including security issues, where the U.S. can be of assistance,\u201d Bosworth said. \u201cMany Latin Americans do want a greater military focus, so there\u2019s certain alignment that\u2019s occurred.\u201d<\/p>\n

Conversely, Mexican journalist Alex Gonz\u00e1lez Ormerod said he believes Trump has been influenced by Latin American leaders, including Bukele, who suspended civil liberties and began locking up alleged gang members en masse in 2021. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think there\u2019s a lot of cross-pollination going on,\u201d he said, crediting groups like the Conservative Political Action Conference, a gathering of right-wing activists and elected officials that has hosted events in Brazil and Argentina.<\/p>\n

Many analysts cautioned that Latin America operates on a pendulum, swinging every few years between right and left. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of evidence that voters are just unhappy and voting for the opposition, and then losing patience very quickly with whoever is in office,\u201d said Benjamin Gedan, director of the Latin America Program at the Stimson Center.<\/p>\n

Voters dissatisfied with the status quo so often vote out incumbents there is a phrase for it: voto castigo, or \u201cthe punishment vote.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ceballos reported from Washington and Linthicum from Mexico City. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Colombian presidential candidate Abelardo de la Espriella has vowed to crush criminal groups and slash government programs. He…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":369140,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[19294,6908,8179,149674,7363,149671,48,52,51,9304,149675,47,50,49,2457,3020,18766,10263,149673,149670,149672],"class_list":["post-369139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-argentina","tag-brazil","tag-colombia","tag-combat-drug-cartel","tag-country","tag-de-la-espriella","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-latin-america","tag-latin-american-politic","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-mexico","tag-president-trump","tag-presidential-election","tag-region","tag-total-endorsement","tag-u-s-power","tag-white-house-tradition"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=369139"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369139\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/369140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=369139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=369139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=369139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}