In fact, there are two lefts in the region: a modern, democratic, globalized and market-friendly left, found in Chile, Brazil, Uruguay, parts of Central America, and, up to a point, in Peru; and a retrograde, populist, authoritarian, statist, and anti-American left, found in Mexico, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Cuba, Ecuador, Bolivia, Venezuela, and, to a lesser extent, in Argentina, Colombia, and Paraguay. Some of these “lefts” are in power; some, as in Mexico in its last, disputed presidential election, barely missed conquering it, but may still do so.
但是，古巴仅仅是可以被称作拉丁美洲“左派”问题的一部分。确实，最近已经有大量关于在过去十年里拉丁美洲左派势力增强的文章。事实上，在该地区有两种左派：一种是智利、巴西、乌拉圭、中美洲的一部分国家以及某种程度上的秘鲁的现代的、民主的、全球化的以及对市场友好的左派；另一种是墨西哥、萨尔瓦多、尼加拉瓜、古巴、厄瓜多尔、玻利维亚、委内瑞拉以及阿根廷、哥伦比亚以及巴拉圭的不那么强烈的倒退的、民粹主义的、独裁的、中央经济统治的以及反美的左派。有些这样的“左派”正在执政；有些，像墨西哥上届充满争议的总统选举那样，刚刚未能当选，但是将来仍有可能执政。