Don’t blame market-friendly policies for Latin America’s discontent

FOR DEFENDERS of free markets in Latin America, October was a dismal month. In Chile, free-marketeers’ favourite economy in the region, protests against a rise in fares on the Santiago metro descended into rioting and then became a 1.2m-person march against inequality and inadequate public services. Sebastián Piñera, the centre-right president, sacked some officials and promised reforms. In Argentina voters booted out the pro-business president, Mauricio Macri, after one term. Instead, they elected Alberto Fernández, whose Peronist movement prefers a muscular state to vigorous markets (see ).Both countries are rising up against “neoliberal” governments, claimed politicians and pundits. Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela’s socialist dictator, tweeted praise for Argentina’s “heroic” people and for Chile’s “noble” ones. In this, he speaks for much of the left.