Interview: U.S. puts LatAm's left to "tough trial," but socialist rule not to be jeopardized: analyst

Latin America's leftist governments have been undermined by poor economic growth and targeted by hostile U.S. policies, which, however, will not jeopardize the socialist rule in the region, said political observer Hugo Moldiz.

After more than a decade of spearheading progressive reforms in Latin America, the region's leftist governments are undergoing a "tough trial," said Moldiz, a former interior minister of Bolivia.

To reassert its influence in Latin America at a time of shifting geopolitical winds, Washington is working to overthrow the region's independent governments, said Moldiz.

Yet this is not the beginning of the end for Latin America's so-called pink tide of socialist rule, he told Xinhua in a recent interview.

Washington's offensive policies towards Latin America's left is a reaction to the hegemonic transition the world is undergoing, said Moldiz.

"In this political and economic context, Latin America is a high priority for the United States, (a base) for launching the Pacific Alliance and the Trans-Pacific Partnership signed less than a month ago by 13 countries, three of them from Latin America," said Moldiz.

The U.S. needs to reassert its influence over Latin America, and to do that it needs to get rid of the leftist governments, said Moldiz.

This dynamic explained why the reform process is now facing such resistance, he added.

Argentina has recently seen power drift to the right in presidential elections, and anti-government protests broke out in Brazil, Ecuador and, to a much lesser extent, Bolivia clamored for change.

However, Moldiz said, the election victories aren't as clear cut as they may seem.

The Nov. 22 elections that brought Argentina's conservative President Mauricio Macri to power handed him a Pyrrhic victory, he said, adding that is one that comes at a high cost.

Macri defeated the ruling Peronist party candidate with a very slight margin, and his administration will have to negotiate heavily with a parliament largely dominated by the Peronists.

In Venezuela, a right-wing coalition swept up most of the legislative seats, gaining a decisive two-thirds majority in the National Assembly and relegating the ruling socialist party and its "Bolivarian Revolution" to the minority benches.

But still, according to Moldiz, what Venezuela's electorate wanted was to show its discontent with runaway inflation and basic shortages at the polls, not to change the government it has.

"In a presidential election in Venezuela, I don't know that the opposition would stay together, and secondly, I don't know that it would win," said Moldiz.

He admitted, however, "that the Bolivarian Revolution is going through tough times, because it will have a contentious assembly" to deal with.

Brazil's embattled President Dilma Rousseff, of the Worker's Party (PT), is struggling with rock-bottom approval ratings, a historic corruption scandal and an opposition bent on impeaching her.

But none of those hardships represented the downfall of the left, said Moldiz, which still has the ultra-popular former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to bank on.

In Ecuador, President Rafael Correa, whose term ends in 2017, continued to be perceived as a strong leader, despite this year's rash of anti-government protests.

The protests have been largely fueled by an unpopular inheritance tax wealthier Ecuadorians have balked at. Correa said the tax is needed to combat inequality.

Bolivia's President Evo Morales is an exception to the trend. He enjoys enormous popularity after nearly 10 years at the helm. Then again, Bolivia's economy is one of the few in Latin America that is still growing.

Despite the setbacks, "we can't say it's the end of the progressive governments," said Moldiz. "After 17 years, the process of reform in Latin America is evidently facing a very tough trial, in a context of a U.S. counter offensive." Endi