Energia Progresiva: The Progressive Energy Revolution in Latin America and the Caribbean

A new progressive movement is emerging in Latin America and the Caribbean, aimed at addressing social injustices, climate change, and wealth redistribution within the framework of capitalism. This is reflected in the recent election victories of leftist leaders in the region, including Presidents Gustavo Petro in Colombia, Xiomara Castro in Honduras, Gabriel Boric in Chile, Luis Alberto Arce in Bolivia, Bernardo Arévalo in Guatemala, Ortega Daniel in Nicaragua, Miguel Mario Díaz-Canel in Cuba, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Brazil, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo in Mexico, Luis Abinader in the Dominican Republic, Yamandú Orsi in Uruguay and others including the recent success of Ecuador’s Luisa González who secured a very close second place position in the first round of the presidential election. The growing trend of progressivism is driven by the high levels of poverty and inequality in the region, particularly in countries like Colombia where 5.2 million people live in extreme poverty, compared to Brazil with 3.6 million. For example, in 2020, Colombia had a poverty rate of around 42%, while Brazil had a poverty rate of around 21%, according to data from the World Bank. I thus coined the term, “Energia Progresiva”, which is an expected shift in this direction concerning policy, investment principles, societal agenda and economic organization. This new progressive movement, referred to as “Energia Progresiva,” seeks to promote a new form of governance that prioritizes respect for nature, a transition from an extractive to a knowledge-based agricultural and industrial economy, and greater representation of historically marginalized groups based on race, social status, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, age, physical ability and language—those who have never had a voice in the government. The term “Energia Progresiva” will study and elucidate the human and economic connection to energy. It is worth mentioning there may be arguments against how it specifically relates to energy in the region. Thus, we seek to extrapolate, as the name implies, that energy will play a role in the progressive movement as a means to achieve the movement’s goals including addressing climate change, providing economic opportunities, hastening economic development, promoting sustainable development, and supporting the transition to a knowledge-based agricultural and industrial economy.