Name: Populista
ISBN: 9781789543988

Will Grant

An exploration of the phenomenon of the caudillo figure in Latin American politics and the rise of populism through the modern histories of the continent.

The Rise of Latin America's 21st Century Strongman

Populista

Sam O'Leary

Interesting profile of 6 Latin American leftist leaders. Told through a very western, BBC lens. 

Useful as an intro to the different presidents but don't expect to learn too much if you already have some background knowledge. 

The author doesn't go into too much detail about policies or how each of the people governed. For example failures aren't dissected, just chalked up to vague mentions of mismanagement and corruption. He also fails to analyse any of the other challenges facing these counties and internal power structures etc. 

The main focus is simply on anecdotes of the men, their origins, and some often irrelevant stories about his own reporting of events at the time / in the various countries.

Lula is clearly his favorite president, although he seems to give the impression that each presidency was ultimately a failure, failing to mention the ongoing popularity of Correa in Ecuador, Lula's likely return to the presidency in Brazil, or the overwhelming support for the MAS in Bolivia and their landslide win in the 2020 election. 

On Bolivia he cites the OAS report into the 2019 election as proof of election rigging despite that report being fraudulent (as acknowledged, begrudgingly, by NYT and Wapo). Also falls into typical BBC tropes of using scare quotes for words like 'imperialism'. 

Overall there's some interesting anecdotes but don't expect to gain a deep understanding of policy, or Latin American politics by reading this.

Populista The Rise of Latin America's 21st Century Strongman

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