Behind South America’s Year of Rage, Years of Woe

One South American nation after another has seen an explosion of anti-government rage in recent months. Five years of weak economic growth is stoking dissent, as is a widespread belief that the costs of adjustment aren’t being fairly shared between rich and poor. In Argentina, which had an election to serve as a safety valve, incumbents were voted out. In Bolivia, a contested election unleashed massive protests. Elsewhere, in the Andean nations of Colombia, Chile and Ecuador people have taken to the streets in the hundreds of thousands.

Over the last five years, South America has been the world’s worst-performing region economically. Argentina is in deep recession, and Venezuela is undergoing one of the worst slumps in history. Elsewhere, growth is sluggish rather than catastrophic. The International Monetary Fund expects the economies of South America to contract 0.2% this year.