Trumpism has ceased to be simply a means of exercising power in the United States and has become a recognizable dynamic across much of the American continent. The victory of Nasry “Tito” Asfura in Honduras reinforces this idea: it is not a closed ideology … not a program that can be exported point by point, but a method. Security as a political priority, border control as a symbol and a diplomacy based on rewards and punishments which force each capital to define itself in the face of White House.
In 2025, this reshuffle has already resulted in tangible results. Election triumphs, regional realignments, and an increasingly explicit challenge to the left-wing discourse that has dominated much of Latin America over the past decade. This is not a uniform wave, but a repeating trend with local nuances.
On December 14, 2025, José Antonio Kast won the presidency of the Pepper with a campaign focused on security, immigration and public order. His victory marked the sharpest rightward shift in years in the Southern Cone and capped a political cycle that began after the social epidemic of 2019. Ten days later, on December 24, the Electoral Council of Honduras proclaimed Asfura the winner after weeks of recount vote by votestreet protests and accusations of fraud. In this final stretch, public messages from Donald Trump They helped consolidate his candidacy while polls placed him behind his rival.
Social fatigue
The map is expanded with other relevant movements of the year. In Ecuador, Daniel Noboa He revalidated power in April with a firm speech against organized crime, which had become a structural threat to the state. In Boliviathe victory of Rodrigo Paz In October, he ended nearly twenty years of hegemony of the Movement towards Socialism and opened a period of transition marked by progressive reforms and more pragmatic economic language. and in Argentina, Javier Milei He closed 2025 with greater parliamentary support following October’s parliamentary elections, bolstered by Trump’s explicit support and with 2026 earmarked as a key year to consolidate his reform agenda.
The year 2026 will be the fundamental test of this conservative revolution. Brazil and Colombia, the two great recent bastions of the South American left, will go to the polls
Behind these victories lies a common factor that goes beyond ideology: social fatigue. The region has seen years of low growth, deteriorating public services and violence becoming normal in large urban and rural areas. In this context, leaders who promise rapid responses, even in the event of shock, have an advantage over projects perceived as continuing the left-wing wave of the last decade.
Hard hand like Bukele’s
The phenomenon has two clear references, received with open arms in the Oval Office. Nayib Bukele embodies the authoritarian model in terms of security, with visible results and assumed democratic costs. Javier Milei represents the experience of adjustment, deregulation and open confrontation with the traditional state. Above both, Trump sets the pace, priorities, allies, and financial, political, and military support, conditional on explicit gestures of alignment.
The year 2026 will be the fundamental test of this conservative revolution. Brazil And Colombiathe two great recent bastions of the South American left, will go to the polls with security as the central axis and the economy as the silent judge. Peru This will be accompanied by political fragmentation and an exhausted electorate. Costa Rica will face a campaign marked by increased violence. Haitiif he manages to maintain the electoral calendar amid chaos and insecurity, it will remind us once again how institutional collapse also decides elections.
Latin American governments
After the elections in Honduras
In Haiti
there is a government
transition
Small island countries in the Caribbean,
all except Montserrat are governed
by left-wing parties
Fountain: Own development
Latin American governments
After the elections in Honduras
In Haiti
there is a government
transition
Small countries
Caribbean islanders, all
them except Montserrat
are governed by
left-wing parties
Fountain: Own development
In parallel, Washington activates demands that affect the entire region. A more aggressive tariff policy, cooperation plans in the fight against drug trafficking and military operations in the Caribbean and the Pacific are part of a continental strategy more focused on subordination. The attacks on ships linked to drug trafficking, which left more than a hundred dead, were presented as a warning and as an example of new American interventionism.
If 2025 was the year that Trumpism made itself felt at the polls, 2026 will be the year that his ability to govern is measured. Trump constitutes the driving force of the new bloc, but also its main risk. Each external pressure can activate reflexes of rejection and protest which alter the meaning of the vote. This tension, between aligning to survive or distancing oneself to avoid paying the internal cost, will mark the political pulse of the continent in the year to come.
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