How the ‘New Right’ in Latin America differs from other emerging far-right movements

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Following the end of the progressive wave of the 2000s and 2010s in Latin America, the right has reinvented itself and regained political space.

There is the self-styled libertarianism of Javier Milei in Argentina, the protests against leftist president Gustavo Petro in Colombia and the increasingly authoritarian government of Nayib Bukele in El Salvador.

There’s also a plethora of influencers and media personalities that vociferously defend conservative positions in the region.

“New Right” candidates are running in municipal elections in Chile and general elections in Uruguay in October.

What is the New Right? Research defines the New Right as “a diverse set of individuals and organizations aiming to maintain societal hierarchies that are perceived as traditional or natural.”

Whereas the traditional right often showed no interest in democracy and was more concerned with economic issues and fighting communism, the new right uses the tools of democracy to obtain power and govern, and focuses more on cultural issues.

Chief among these issues is the control of sexuality and gender, which differentiates the new Latin American right from its western counterparts, which are prioritizing the issue of migration.

Read more: Why the ideology of the 'New Right' is so dangerous

The issues Researchers have observed the focus on sexuality in the new Latin American right. While conducting field work last year in Colombia with right-wing activists, it became clear to me that groups as diverse as economic libertarians, evangelical anti-abortionists and security hardliners with military backgrounds shared a desire to control the sexuality of others.

Earlier this year, El Salvador’s Bukele ordered gender-related content removed from the public education system. Argentina’s Milei routinely attacks women’s reproductive rights, and the Peruvian government defined transgender identities as a “mental health problem.”

These varied efforts seek to maintain heterosexual and binary gender models at the top of the social hierarchy, while people with diverse identities are marginalized. These authoritarian tendencies are aligned with another of the new right’s favourite issues: a tough-on-crime approach to security.

Bukele has become an inspiration on this matter.

Read more: 'Bukelism,' El Salvador's flawed approach to gang violence, is no silver bullet for Ecuador

The Argentine and Ecuadorian governments have expressed an interest in building Bukele-style mega-prisons to curb crime.

Likewise, politicians in different countries market themselves as the local Bukele to win votes.

Sexuality, crime Except for a few countries, migration is not a particularly relevant issue for adherents of the New Right in Latin America.

This is not due to a lack of migration. More than six million Venezuelans have migrated to other countries in the region as of 2023; several Latin American countries are transit points for migrants trying to reach the United States; internal migration and forced displacement are an ongoing issue for some countries.

Nevertheless, anti-migrant and nativist views are not commonplace. There is, however, an effort by the New Right to preserve white and white/mixed-race populations as well as western Christian values at the top of the social hierarchy — to the detriment of Latin America’s Indigenous and Black communities.

The strategies The traditional right in Latin America resorted to coups d’état and military dictatorships as part of its repertoire of action. This happened in particular before the 1990s, but it’s also occurred in the last three decades.

Conversely, the New Right prefers to leverage the tools of democracy to erode the democratic system from within and prolong its grip on power.

New Right figures now become leaders by winning elections. But once in office, they often try to concentrate power in the executive branch by undermining the separation of powers.

Bukele, for example, controls the legislative and judicial branches in El Salvador. Jair Bolsonaro took a similar path in Brazil but was ultimately thwarted by the victory of leftist Lula da Silva in 2022.

The New Right has also become adept at using judicial activism to advance its agenda and curtail the rights of marginalized citizens.

Grassroots organizing and social activism — tactics traditionally associated with the left — are now part of the New Right’s playbook in Latin America. Social movements were instrumental in the fall of Brazil’s Dilma Roussef and the subsequent 2018 victory of Bolsonaro.

Right-wing social movement entities have systematically taken to the streets in Colombia to protest the leftist government.

Evangelical churches have also taken on a more visible role within the New Right, disputing the traditional leadership of the Catholic Church among conservatives. While evangelicals have long been an important electoral force in places like Brazil, they have had more mixed results in other countries.

Future implications The New Right continues to influence the public debate and society at large in Latin America through street and social media activism, as well as institutional politics.

In 2025, the New Right could make further electoral gains in countries like Chile and Ecuador.

Because many existing New Right governments regularly undermine democracy and the rights of marginalized communities, it’s important to better understand their strategies and priorities — particularly in a region marred by exclusion and inequality.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit, independent news organisation bringing you facts and trustworthy analysis to help you make sense of our complex world. It was written by: Juan Manuel Morales, Université de Montréal

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