What is holding the protests in Latin America together?
CGTN
Latin America has been at the forefront of the news agenda over the past month. Presidential elections in Argentina and Bolivia have shared media attention alongside images of protesters and their clashes with security forces in Chile and Ecuador.
At one level, the stories are disparate and unique, with particular explanations in each country. But at another level, there's a thread holding them together. The thread is the region's sluggish economy over the past decade and its failure to redistribute the wealth to wider society.
Latin America's economic downturn is in stark contrast to the decade after 2000, which was a boom time, powered by commodities like oil, gas, minerals and agricultural products.
Newfound wealth coincided with the election of left-wing governments across the region. They increased the size of the state, investing more in public services like education and healthcare as well as in the economy. Even the financial crisis a decade ago failed to dent Latin American optimism.
