Politics of the Amazon

In Latin America the future does seem to be one of coalitions in which green parties are represented, most likely as junior partners. A number of political analysts have sought to place the handling of green issues within the context of a region that is seen swinging periodically between the political right and left. Many analysts described the spread of left-wing governments in the period between 2003 and 2014 as the continent’s first ‘pink tide’. Its leaders were Hugo Chávez (Venezuela), Evo Morales (Bolivia), Rafael Correa (Ecuador), Néstor and Cristina Kirchner (Argentina), and Luis Inácio Lula da Silva (Lula) and Dilma Rousseff in Brazil. During that period, helped by an extended commodities boom, many leftist governments were able to redistribute income and reduce poverty, enjoying as a result significant electoral popularity.