Analysis by WorldTribune Staff, October 5, 2026 Non-AI Real World News
The political winds are shifting south of the border.
Following the closure and defunding of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in July 2025, Latin America can attest to that shift, with multiple presidential elections resulting in victories for populists and conservatives, or the “far right” as the legacy media puts it.
Conservative or populist leaders have triumphed in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Honduras, and Peru.
Did U.S. Government subsidies play a role?
Donald Trump Jr. noted in a post to X on Monday: “Since we gutted USAID, the left hasn’t won a single presidential election in Latin America. Billions in taxpayer cash were funding NGOs, ‘democracy’ programs, and activist networks that conveniently always backed the same side. They called it aid but it was election interference. Thank you @elonmusk for dragging this into the light. The grift is over.”
Brazil is likely to be added to the list of conservative victories later this month, as conservative Flavio Bolsonaro is favored to defeat leftist incumbent Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Mike Benz, executive director of the Foundation for Online Freedom, noted a direct correlation between the end of USAID and the rise of Bolsonaro.
“What you’re watching is the first election in 6 years where Lula no longer has tens of millions of dollars of USAID operation money propping up him and his allies,” Benz said in a post to X.
Benz pointed out that USAID more than doubled its spending on Brazil when Jair Bolsonaro, father of Flavio Bolsonaro, won the 2018 presidential election.
“This was not because Brazil suddenly needed twice the aid. The money was spent on projects in Brazil to undermine Bolsonaro,” Benz noted.
Since we gutted USAID, the left hasn’t won a single presidential election in Latin America.
Billions in taxpayer cash were funding NGOs, “democracy” programs, and activist networks that conveniently always backed the same side. They called it aid but it was election interference.
Thank you @elonmusk for dragging this into the light. The grift is over.— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) October 5, 2026
250 Years of Freedom Is At Risk
Funny how it works: After USAID defunding, ‘far right’ won 8 Latin American elections added by Editor Two on
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