Across Latin America, crime and insecurity fears are providing a boost to conservative politicians, who are seen by many residents as better suited to making their countries safer.
Roughly 54 percent of Brazilians said crime and drug-trafficking are the top issues facing their country, surpassing both corruption and the economy, according to LatAm Pulse, a survey conducted by AtlasIntel for Bloomberg News and published Friday. Half of the respondents there said the political right has better plans to combat illegal activities, while only about one-quarter said the left is better prepared.
Crime also ranked as the top issue in Chile — with almost 55 percent of respondents choosing it — and over 44 percent of them said right-wing politicians had the best plans to fight it. Nearly 48 percent of Colombians picked crime as their country’s top problem, while half of those polled said they preferred proposals from conservatives to make their country safer.
The growing concern over drug traffickers and robberies represents a vulnerability for the region’s progressive leaders, many of whom are already under fire for their economic records. Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s popularity has sunk in recent months over frustration with rising food prices, while Colombia’s Gustavo Petro and Chile’s Gabriel Boric are suffering with their electorates due to paltry growth.
Crime is likely to be on the top of Latin American voters’ minds as leftist presidents, or their successors, gear up for tough election fights in coming months.
The streets in Santiago de Chile remain comparatively safer than many Latin American capitals, but the growing presence of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua has fed the perception that Boric is weak on crime. In Colombia, Petro’s efforts to negotiate with illegal armed groups have so far failed to yield significant security gains as rival groups battle for control of cocaine-producing regions.
Murders have dropped significantly in Brazil in recent years. But the entrenched presence of gangs in urban slums and rural outposts along with surging street crime, such as the theft of smartphones, has Brazilians worried: Nearly three quarters of respondents there — 73.2 percent — said crime is currently getting worse.
In Mexico, which has long grappled with a scourge of drug cartels, nearly half of respondents ranked crime as the country’s top issue — second only to corruption. Still, Mexicans are holding faith in President Claudia Sheinbaum’s abilities to curb the violence: 41 percent of the respondents said the political left had the best proposals to combat criminality.
AtlasIntel surveyed 2,164 people in Argentina, 2,181 in Chile, 1,807 in Colombia and 2,125 in Mexico, all with a margin of error plus or minus two percentage points. In Brazil, it surveyed 5,710 people with a margin of error of plus or minus one percentage point.
by Andrew Rosati, Bloomberg
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