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The article addresses the status of the left in Latin America and makes some distinctions based on the continuum proposed by Norberto Bobbio that ranges from the extreme left to the extreme right. A Neo-Jacobin left, a reformist left and a radical left are thus defined. It is argued that even though the borders between them are often muddy, they do have very different visions on fundamental issues regarding public-private relations, the value of representative democracy and individual freedoms.
In addition to examining the reasons why the different types of lefts arose and the differences between each national experience, the article ultimately examines the basic features of the reformist perspective, which is defined by the aspiration to make societies more just without renouncing freedom in the name of the equality or equality in the name of freedom.