Luis Inácio Lula da Silva warned that alternation certifies democracy. He was the first to forget his words and approach the Chavista autocracy.
The lack of results has exacted a severe political cost for the Brazilian ruler. The radicalization of Chavismo in the mold of the Nicaraguan disaster is to blame, he says. The failure reveals an even more acute geopolitical problem in a space that is easily disorganized, he adds. The Mexican episode was largely caused by Andrés Manuel Lóbrador, who disregarded the electoral victory of Ecuador's Daniel Noboa last year, he writes. He says Noboa is a tenacious ally of Correa, who worked to overthrow Noboa's predecessor, Guillermo Lasso, who is now in exile in Belgium. It's better that Noboa took something worse than that, says Lula, as he suggests that the operation in Ecuador failed because the Mexican president took advantage of the situation.