"Left" electoral course in South America

Latin American left: spotlight on Ecuador and Brazil

Following the attempted coup by a section of the police against the government of Rafael Correa in Ecuador, the Mexican section of the United Secretariat of the Fourth International (the Workers Revolutionary Party — PRT in Spanish) issued a statement of opposition through the FI’s International Viewpoint.

It called for “demonstrations of support and solidarity […] in front of the Ecuadorean embassy in Mexico City”. The statement is also clear in rejecting the notion, asserted in some bourgeois media sources, that the upheaval was a legitimate protest by policeman around changes to pay and conditions: “In this right-wing, reactionary and profoundly undemocratic action, the role of imperialism and the forces of the bourgeoisie and the oligarchy has undoubtedly been present.”

The statement also hints at left-wing criticism of Correa’s government, but ultimately describes it as a “progressive government”.

Another statement from radical and civil-society organisations within Ecuador itself opposes the coup within the context of a general fight for workers’ rights and social justice in the country, saying “The working conditions of all the Ecuadorian people, including the police and army, cannot be based on conditions that are unfair or discriminatory; the Ecuadorean state budget should aim to eliminate the disparities that create first and second category workers, that do not ensure full employment or proper social security for both women and men. Special privileges should be eliminated in a country where the poverty of the majority has not yet been eliminated.”

• The two statements can be viewed at www.internationalviewpoint.org

In Brazil, the main party of the far-left (P-SOL, the Socialism and Freedom Party) had a poor electoral showing despite coming out as the fourth party in the polls.

P-SOL’s candidate, Plínio de Arruda Sampaio, polled just 0.87% of the vote (886,816) compared to 47,651,434 votes for the leading candidate, the Workers’ Party Dilma Rousseff. Although Plinio’s performance in live debates was praised even in the bourgeois media, the result represents a significant setback considering the 6.85% (over 6,500,000 votes) that P-SOL’s Heloísa Helena won in 2006.

Despite the large vote, Rousseff failed to win a sufficient majority over her main rivals to take the presidency outright, so the election has entered a second-round run off. A decisive factor will be whether the supporters of third-placed Marina Silva back Rousseff or José Serra of the more right-wing Social Democratic Party.