Fifteen years ago, a similar situation was not only unthinkable but frankly impossible as the boundaries established by the Cold War would have suffocated such trend. But it also may well have floundered in the sea of its own internal doctrinal rivalries. The left of the post-Cold War period is very different, even though it continues to be a rather multi-coloured phenomenon, displaying many different shades.

For example, no one could compare an ultra-moderate socialist such as Chilean president Ricardo Lagos with a leader as radical as Evo Morales; or a pragmatic Nestor Kirchner, Argentina's president, with a populist like Chávez.  A López Obrador cannot be compared to an Ortega who has inexplicably survived so many accusations of corruption.  In practice and in theory, this Latin American left is an authentic potpourri, and this is a characteristic we should all applaud as it follows the path of diversity, pluralism and anti-dogmatist.

No longer does one see the sad spectacle of a few leftwing groups fighting amongst themselves to prove who will lead the revolution, who is the most revolutionary, who is the most ready one to take up arms or to define whether the peasants are more revolutionary than the workers.  They no longer quarrel like before over whether one requires an avant-garde political party to start a revolution or if all that is needed is an organization such as a guerrilla army.  Furthermore, today no one talks of the dictatorship of the proletariat.

The Maoists, the Marxist-Leninists, the Trotskyites, the Camilists, the pure socialists, the hardcore Castroists, the Guevaristas, the hoxistas, the kimilsunistas, the followers of Pol Pot, the Stalinists, the autonomists and a long etcetera, are already exhibits in a museum of old, extinct voices.  Today, the leftwing elite speaks out against globalisation, they discuss elections, hold business conferences in Davos, Switzerland, and then meet the next day in Porto Alegre, Brasil, to face jeers from the most ferocious and sectarian leftists.  Today, they talk of democracy, the environment, social justice, blaming the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for all evils and Imperialism for all wars; but when necessary, they do not hesitate to accept the IMF's recommendations and even take a glance to the United States, to fulfil their needs.

It is definitely a more pragmatic and less doctrinal left, more likely to accept the reality of the vast limits that come with exercising power.  Although there is no lack of messianic caudillos, pleasing surprises arise, like Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who has proved himself to be a great statesman rather than the leader of the Brazilian Workers' Party.  Lula and his campaign against hunger, a project which has attracted the attention of governments and groups of all persuasions from all over the world, is the best example of how far a civilized, democratic left can go, one that is reasonable and less intimidating, leaving behind any dogma and revolutionary mirages. We can only hope that this trend proves to be something truly positive, to alleviate the devastated lives of our Latin American people.