A CERTAIN CHANGE CAN BE SENSED in Latin America’s remaining bastions of left-wing rule. The once popular governments of Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and Venezuela—together with their charismatic and populist leaders—have been forced to the defensive as widespread protests show signs of disillusionment with unfulfilled promises of prosperity and change.
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THE EVENTS OF OCTOBER 2017 and the subsequent election held on December 21st have done little to resolve the issue of Catalan independence, which has now escalated into a regional and national crisis marked by political gridlock and polarization among the Catalan people. This polarization has taken a particular toll on the Catalan left as well as on the region’s labor movement, allowing the bourgeoisie to remain in power and further its own agenda by exploiting the issue while the Left remains fractionalized and at odds about the way forward.
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