2016, a bridging year (english version)

Less than one year ago, Latin America seemed to be on the verge of an historic change. The event better embodying this transformation has been Mauricio Macri’s presidential election in Argentina, even though it is only the tip of the iceberg: the Chavist Movement lost its strength in occasion of parliamentary elections, while the Mud opposition (Mesa de la Unidad Democrática) gained more votes, winning over 2/3 of parliamentary seats. The populist wind seemed to die down, the same populist wind that filled the sails of a government as the Frente para la Victoria in Argentina, led by Cristina Fernández de Kirchener. However, 2015 had been a year with few elections in Latin America: two Presidential elections (Argentina and Guatemala) and three legislative elections (El Salvador, Mexico and Venezuela). This data, compared with elections held in 2014, when in South America there were seven presidential elections (six of which with renewal of national parliaments), seems narrow and unrepresentative. So, why at the beginning of 2016 in Latin America, there was the sensation of being on the verge of an epochal change? And how much these expectations have been satisfied along the year? At first glance, this change appears to be a more general transformation of the ‘esprit du temps’: a nonlinear change, as usually happens in a political context, but with a zig-zag evolution that outlines a clear tendency line.