THE BIRTH OF “LIBERFASCISM” AND THE DIFFERENT WAYS OF MANAGING THE PANDEMIC IN LATIN AMERICA

Abstract

This article aims to investigate the relationship between the different forms of government in Latin America and the modes of social management of the Covid-19 pandemic. To do this, it introduces a theoretical distinction between neoliberalism, neofascism and “liberfascism”, a theoretical concept coined ad hoc that describes the emergence of extreme right-wing groups, to characterize the political positions of governments in Latin America, especially in the countries of Chile, Peru, and Brazil. Subsequently, it analyses the government strategies carried out by each type of government using the notions of viropolitics (Ayala-Colqui, 2020b) and necropolitics (Mbembe, 2011). Finally, it reflects on the possible expansion of liberfascism and far-right groups in the region, which had as a contextual catalyst the restrictive confinement measures exercised during the pandemic.