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The Latin American Spring is a series of Latin American protests, uprisings and rebellions that began in the mid-2010s. The crises in the region occurred following the end of the 2000s commodities boom, with an economic downturn and slow growth occurring throughout the 2010s. Both left and right-wing governments faced a recently-grown middle class produced from the boom that turned to protest as a result of corruption, economic hardship and increasing inequality.

Pink tide and commodities boom
The third wave of democratization in the 1980s, granted leftist parties to become electorally viable, with the United States reducing its opposition to such parties following the dissolution of the Soviet Union. In the 1990s, neoliberal policies resulted in less social spending, unemployment, inflation and inequality. Beginning in the 2000s, Latin Americans turned away from neoliberal policies and elected leftist leaders, who had recently turned toward more democratic processes instead of armed actions.

Leftist leaders were elected throughout the region in a movement described as the "pink tide", with their governments relying on the 2000s commodities boom to initiate populist policies for support. China, which was experiencing a growing economy simultaneously with Latin America, took advantage of strained relations between the United States and leftist governments in Latin America, partnering with regional governments. South America in particular initially saw a drop in inequality and a growth in its economy as a result of Chinese commodity trade. According to Daniel Lansberg, such policies resulted in "high public expectations in regard to continuing economic growth, subsidies, and social services".

End of boom
Commodity prices lowered into the 2010s and overspending by pink tide governments led to unsustainable policies, with supporters becoming disenchanted, eventually leading to the rejection of leftist governments. By the mid-2010s, Chinese investment in Latin America had also begun to decline. Analysts state that such unsustainable policies were more apparent in Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador and Venezuela, which received Chinese funds without any oversight. As a result, some scholars have stated that rise and fall of regional governments were "a byproduct of the commodity cycle's acceleration and decadence".

2014
Dr. Noam Lupu, associate director of the Latin American Public Opinion Project states that a "pretty big decline" in democracy began in 2014 after a period of stability during the commodities boom. A series of protests in Venezuela began with the 2014 Venezuelan protests; demonstrations that began

2015
The Odebrecht scandal resulted in widespread ramifications for Latin America, with anti-corruption protests gaining momentum in the region during the investigations. Beginning with the 2015 protests in Brazil, millions of Brazilians protested against corruption.

By September 2015, the Wilson Center outlined a scenario describing potential democratization mobilizations in Latin America, stating at the time that "[i]ncreased expectations of the rising middle classes generate impatience, dissatisfaction, and inability of citizens to identify themselves with politics. The 'Latin-American Spring' gains momentum as millions take to the streets, drawing on new technologies to organize".

2016
Further dissatisfaction with governments related to the Odebrecht scandal intensified in 2016, with more Latin Americans becoming disillusioned with democracy at the time, especially in countries more affected by the scandal. Millions of protesters continue to mobilize in Brazil with many Brazilians surveyed by the Latin American Public Opinion Project at the time believing that the majority of politicians in the country were involved in corruption. President Dilma Rousseff is ultimately impeached following graft investigations related to Operation Car Wash.

2017
The scandal also proved to be controversial in Peru, with President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski becoming iinvolved in an impeachment proceeding after being accused of accepting bribes from Odebrecht, with Kuczynski later resigning following continued political pressure.

2019 Latin American protests
From late-2018 and throughout 2019, protests in the region intensified once more, with the protests being motivated by various causes.

Bolivia
Bolivia saw declining trust in its government and electoral system in the years ahead of 2019.

Chile
Chileans had been discontent with inequality in the country leading up to the protests. The repressive tactics used by authorities in Chile increased tensions within the country, leading to more protests.

Characteristics
According to Brian Winter, policy vice president of the Americas Society/Council of the Americas, main characteristics of the movement are economic dissatisfaction following the commodities boom and the reliance on military might, with Winter saying that Latin Americans perceive that strongman politics leads to change. Dr. Lupu of the Latin American Public Opinion Project agreed that as corruption and socioeconomic issues increased in Latin America, citizens turn towards strongmen and distanced themselves from supporting democracy. Winter expressed concern with his assessment of Latin America in 2019, stating "My fear is that we’ve gone back to the battle days of coups and protests and instability ... I think all of these things play a role and the takeaway could be that we’re returning to a period ... where uprisings and coups and civil unrest were the rule of the day".