Socialist tide soars in US backyard

[Thom Little]

A new wave of socialist democracy is seizing Latin America, with left-wing presidents in power or poised to win elections in the coming months.

Next year, voters will choose leaders in nine countries, from Nicaragua to Chile, in a show of democratic integrity unthinkable in the 1980s, when military dictatorships and civil wars blighted the region.

But the left-wing governments being elected are anathema for the Bush Administration in the US, which regards socialism in its backyard a threat to its interests.

.......

Latin America's left is eyeing potentially its biggest prize in Mexico, a trade partner of Washington which is under growing focus in the US debates on immigration and security.

Left-wing former mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador heads opinion polls for July 2 elections to replace Vicente Fox, who cannot stand again. Voters are disenchanted with a tepid economy under Fox.


http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10361186