Latin America, a disputed territory
The documentary "Latin America, Territory in Dispute," directed by Nicolás Trotta and Esteban Cuevas, premiered in Buenos Aires. It is an authentic audiovisual testimony of a political stage focused on the advance of the right wing in the continent and also on the new popular perspectives emerging in countries of the region.
Nicolás Trotta and Esteban Cuevas spoke with CLACSO TV and CLACSO Radio about this film that puts figures such as Evo Morales, Pepe Mujica, Néstor Kirchner, Rafael Correa, Fernando Lugo, Dilma Rousseff and Lula da Silva, among many others, in the foreground.
From the south of the Rio Grande to the Strait of Magellan, 38.696 km traveled, 7 countries visited, 2 years of filming, 40 interviews with the top political, social and cultural figures of the region to tell the story of a continent in dispute: Latin America.
This documentary road movie begins in March 2016, serving as the starting point for a journey through the continent's main countries. The film, sponsored by CLACSO, reflects on why reactionary forces have once again taken hold in Latin America, after more than a decade of popular governments in which the dream of a united Latin America envisioned by Simón Bolívar and José de San Martín seemed attainable.
Over the past four years, the balance of power within the continent has shifted. Economic elites have been able to adapt and regroup in the face of the new reality that has taken them by surprise. The loss of their privileges would not come without a price; those who consider themselves the owners could not allow the system to be undermined. It was necessary to create the conditions to halt the changes and weaken the popular governments. They found the Achilles' heel of the transformative model in a certain inability to implement substantive reforms to strengthen democracy.
A new wave of coups was set in motion. These coups were different from those of past decades, which had been carried out and sustained through the repressive power of the Armed Forces. In this new era, the Military Party was replaced by a sector of the judiciary that established itself as the Judicial Party, and which enjoyed the active support of the most influential media outlets. These media outlets also worked to achieve in some countries what had previously seemed impossible: the most conservative right wing coming to power through popular vote in free elections.
In this dispute the right wing is advancing but, as former Uruguayan President Pepe Mujica said, “this reactionary wave is going to fail, it will never definitively triumph, because ours will not definitively triumph either.”
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