The aim of this article is to describe and analyze what we call the political effects of the third neoliberal offensive in Latin America, which is defined as a period that corresponds, in general, to the phase inaugurated by the consequences of the 2007-2008 economic crisis that affected progressive governments in the region. Based on Bolivian and Brazilian cases, we indicate that the most salient political effects of this new neoliberal offensive are expressed by engendering coup d’état of a new type, with a certain degree of observance of legal mechanisms, and by fostering the constitution of reactionary mass movements typical of fascistization processes. From the analysis of the two cases, we argue that a requirement of the new type of coup d’état is to obtain a more active, constant and ideologically cohesive participation of its social bases, in order to give legitimacy to the exceptional attacks of state powers on decisions established by universal suffrage. However, the politicization of this social base is not only built by a “neoliberal reason”. The updating of the anti-communist discourse, the defense of conservative Christian morality and the cultural dispute over the identity of the “nation-people” have boosted reactionary mass movements, whether on social networks or in the streets, which leads, albeit in an undeclared way, to a neo-fascist camp in this complex conjuncture.
Neoliberalism; Neofascism; Political crisis; Elections; Bolivia; Brazil
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