Latin American democracy is being put to the test in Brazil and Venezuela.
At stake is whether the left-wing government in either country can countenance the idea of legitimate opposition.
The day after losing Brazil's presidential election, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro had his personal and diplomatic passports confiscated and was ordered not to leave Brazil.
Earlier, as Brazilians went to the polls Sunday to choose between Bolsonaro and leftist incumbent leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado was back in her home country for the first time after almost a year in exile.
Her freedom, and life, are now at the mercy of the socialist dictatorship led by Delcy Rodriguez, who took power after America's capture of Nicolas Maduro in January.
Venezuela has not had even the semblance of a free presidential election since 2013, following the death of Hugo Chavez, the socialist who established the present regime.
And Maduro's victory that year — by less than 2 points — has been much questioned.
President Donald Trump has his own questions about what happened in Brazil last Sunday.
A judge who used to be Lula's personal attorney kept polling places open an extra two hours, after the incumbent complained about a lack of adequate public transportation in cities where he expected to do well.
"It looked like another rigged election, frankly," Trump told reporters afterward. "I didn't take sides, but it was a terrible look for the world."
Bolsonaro was inclined to challenge the results, calling for the election to be annulled because of judicial interference — he's now, however, decided to pursue only a charge against Lula of improperly using his power as an incumbent to affect the vote.
That's a complaint unsuccessful candidates often lodge against winners in Brazil's elections: it amounts to little more than a token protest.
He might well have chosen not to pursue his argument against the judiciary for changing the rules in mid-game — as he'd earlier accused it of doing — because the judiciary holds leverage over him, in the form of two ongoing corruption investigations.
America's recent experience of the "lawfare" waged against Trump during the Biden administration should make everyone think twice about criminal cases being lodged against the leaders of an opposition party.
Charging Machado with corruption would certainly be a convenient way for Delcy Rodriguez to remove a serious rival for the presidency.
Democracies might protest — but their own indictments of opposition leaders are only as just as their judges and prosecutors are, and from Brazil to the state of New York, where Attorney General Letitia James pressed charges against Trump, such authorities are hardly above suspicions of partisanship.
The best thing Lula can do for Brazil is make peace with his opponents — voters have not, after all, given him a blank check; they reelected him only in the wake of giving Bolsonaro's party control of the legislature in early October.
The nation's economic stability is also fragile, with Brazilian stocks taking their biggest fall in more than a quarter century after it was clear Lula had won.
Despite his renewed lease on office, Lula's era is drawing to a close:
While Lula's just turned 81, the political right is still rising in the region, as seen at home and abroad alike — in Brazil's own legislative elections and in a dozen-plus presidential contests elsewhere in Latin America since last year.
He could go down in history as more than just another Latin American leftist of a bygone era, if he accepts his conservative opposition is legitimate.
Yet there's little chance of that, as Lula's attitude toward Venezuela shows.
He's condemned the dictator Maduro's removal from power — and what will he say if Rodriguez attempts to cling to it, despite her pledges to call elections?
If he's content to see his opponents jailed or prevented from running for office, what are the odds he'll object if Rodriguez bans or imprisons her opposition, too?
Rodriguez, for her part, can break the mold Chavez and Maduro imposed on her country, if she dares to: she can tolerate opposition and get the country ready for a real vote.
Losing might be painful; winding up like Maduro would be worse.
Most of Latin America is prospering under right-leaning governments.
The remaining left-wing holdouts should recognize where the future is leading.
They will soon be in opposition, just as leftists elsewhere in the region are.
Their actions toward their rivals — from Bolsonaro to Machado — will determine what place, if any, the left itself has in the Latin America that's coming, despite the brief interruption of Lula's last hurrah.
(COMMENT, BELOW)
Previously:
• 10/22/26: Why George Washington Would Deport Mahmoud Khalil
• 10/06/26: Latin America's Many Trumps
• 09/30/26: MAID in America?
• 09/22/26: Sore Losers Are Socialism's Allies
• 09/15/26: The Immigration Politics of a Felon's Pardon
• 09/14/26: Jobs and Manufacturing Are on the Ballot
• 09/01/26: How to Tackle Domestic Extremists' Foreign Enablers
• 08/25/26: Why Hasan Piker Mocks a Murdered Man
• 08/18/26: Dems' Southern Strategy
• 08/11/26: Homebuyers Deserve the Facts About Crime and Schools
• 08/04/26: Diversity, Equity, and Confabulation
• 07/28/26: Democratic Socialists of America vs. John Adams
• 07/21/26: Why Dems Can't Do Better Than Kamala Harris in 2028
• 07/14/26: Prescription for a Socialist Workforce
• 07/07/26: The Smithsonian's Patriotism Problem
• 06/30/26: Bill Maher, Liberalism's Apostate
• 06/23/26: Can Anyone Govern Britain -- or America?
• 06/16/26: University Professors Against Academic Freedom
• 06/09/26: Pope Leo Courts the Global Left
• 06/02/26: A Mass-Graves Myth Is Media Malpractice
• 05/28/26: Dems Face Midterm Disappointment
• 05/26/26: Dems Face Midterm Disappointment
• 05/12/26: Dems finally come clean 'bout their radical design
• 05/05/26: The Silenced Generation
• 04/28/26:Colleges Are Making Political Violence Worse
• 04/21/26:Immigration Amnesty by Any Other Name
• 04/14/26: A New Extreme in Gerrymandering
• 04/07/26: A New Extreme in Gerrymandering
• 03/17/26: Why Are Senate Dems Making Air Travel Worse?
• 03/10/26: Cuba Should Accept Trump's 'Friendly Takeover'
• 03/03/26: Immigration Enforcement Saves Lives
• 02/24/26: How a Party Offends Its Voters
• 02/17/26: Why Are Anti-ICE Activists Building Borders?
• 02/10/26: A Japanese Lesson for Troubled Britain
• 02/03/26: The Trump Coalition Wins But the GOP Brand Doesn't
• 01/27/26: Canada Should Warm to Trump's Arctic Plans
• 01/20/26: From Rock to Tech, Talent Flees Taxes
• 01/13/26: Woman Who Weaponized Car Against I.C.E Endangered Her Life -- and Yours
• 01/06/26: Tim Walz Personifies Dems' Decline
• 12/30/25: Harvard Says Yes to Discrimination, No to Western Civ
• 12/23/25: JD Vance Gets America's Creed and Heritage Right
• 12/16/25: Trump's Inflation Trap
• 12/09/25: Biden's Immigration Debacle Is the Media's, Too
• 12/02/25: 'Iryna's Law' and the Bad Judges Who Make It Necessary
• 11/26/25: Marjorie Taylor Greene's Exit Is a Warning to Republicans
• 11/19/25: Trump Hasn't Lost Hispanics (Yet)
• 11/11/25: Trump's Tariffs on Trial
• 10/28/25: MAGA Makes Allies Great Again
• 10/21/25: How To Make the AmericaS Great Again
• 10/16/25: Columbus Day Celebrates Our Civilization
• 10/09/25: Why Sharpies Are Made in America Again
• 09/30/25: Assata Shakur and Other Parents of Political Violence
• 09/09/25: Who's Accountable for Autopen Pardons?
• 09/02/25: Gender dysphoria is a mental-illness, NOT an all-encompassing delusion
• 08/26/25: Trump's Industrial Policy Is Realism, Not Socialism
• 08/19/25: Is Gavin Newsom the Dems' Answer to Trump?
• 08/12/25: Just Say No to More Marijuana
• 08/05/25: Will the GOP Make Libs Generous Again?
• 07/30/25: Trump's Trade Lesson for Economists (and the World)
• 07/22/25: Whose Politics Canceled Stephen Colbert?
• 07/08/25: A Big Beautiful Test of GOP Principles and Discipline
• 07/01/25: Dems Need Populism, But Not Zohran's Sort
• 06/25/25: Secure Borders Win Wars Like This One
• 06/18/25: WEIRD Protesters Should Stay Home
• 06/17/25: WEIRD Protesters Should Stay Home
• 06/04/25: State that's long eluded GOP turns toward Trump
• 05/21/24: Trump's Sun Belt Hopes and Rust Belt Needs
• 05/14/24: What Trump Sees in Doug Burgum
• 05/07/24: The Vietnam Era Never Ended for Biden's Party
• 05/06/24: Nationalists of the World, Unite?
• 04/25/24: Foreign Policy Splits
• 04/16/24: How pro-lifers stand to lose everything gained in overturning Roe
• 04/02/24: PBS Misremembers William F. Buckley Jr.
• 04/02/24: Who Wants to Be House Speaker?
• 03/26/24: Trump Hunts for a VP Close to Home
• 03/19/24: Princess Kate and Democracy's Discontents
• 03/12/24: Can Biden Buy the Voters?
• 03/05/24: Veepstakes Give Trump an Edge
• 02/20/24: Do Americans Trust Either Party?
• 02/13/24: Vladimir Putin -- A Passive Aggressor
• 01/23/24: Will 'Lawfare' Take Trump Off the Ballot?
• 01/16/24: Will Africa Save America?
• 01/09/24:'The Sopranos' at 25: A new world tragedy
• 01/02/24: Trump, Biden and a Fight for the Heart
• 12/12/23: What Happened to Ron DeSantis?
• 12/12/23: Biden Looks Doomed -- But Is He?
• 12/05/23: A Test for Trump and His Rivals
• 11/21/23: When Inequality Is Fatal for Men
• 11/14/23: Nevermind, The Battle's Over
• 11/07/23: War in the Dem Party -- and at the Opera
• 10/24/23: Israel's Lesson for 2024: A Lib Crackup
• 10/17/23: Libs' Dilemma: Immigration or Israel?
• 10/10/23: Why Bidenflation Defines Bidenomics
• 10/03/23: Will Gavin Newsom Copy Trump?
• 09/26/23: Biden's a Loser -- but Dems Can't Ditch Him
• 09/19/23: Do Sex Scandals Matter?
• 09/12/23: Cornel West Spells Doom for Biden
• 09/05/23: What Trump Does for Democracy
• 08/2/23: Ramaswamy: A Trump Versus Trump?
• 08/22/23: Take 'Rich Men North of Richmond' Seriously
• 08/16/23: How America Kills Its Own
• 08/08/23: The Biden Pardon That Can Spare America
• 08/01/23: Harding, a consevative for the ages
• 07/25/23: Demography Destiny, for Us and China
• 07/18/23: The Frontrunner Who Looks Like a Loser Is Biden
• 07/11/23: Britain's Bad Example for American Conservatives
• 07/05/23: Could We Still Win a Revolutionary War?
• 06/27/23: Civilizations Clash -- in Ukraine and at Home
• 06/20/23: China Comes for the Caribbean
• 06/13/23: Fertility, Family and Bio-Socialism
• 06/06/23: From American Dream to Orwell's Nightmare
• 05/23/23: Ukraine war is an existential struggle --- for the West
• 05/23/23: Learn the Right Midterm Lessons -- or Lose in 2024
• 05/16/23: Feinstein Today Is Biden Tomorrow
• 05/09/23: Trump, DeSantis and Political Courtship
• 05/02/23: RFK Jr.'s Threat to Biden
• 04/25/23: Biden's Lost Generation
• 04/25/23: Who's In Charge of Clarence Thomas?
• 04/11/23: Beyond AI, Our Cyborg Future
• 04/04/23: 2024: 3 Leaders, 1 Way to Win
• 03/28/23: Climate Science Makes a Bad Religion
• 03/21/23: All the Conspiracy That's Fit to Print