Welcome back to Foreign Policy’s Latin America Brief.

The highlights this week: Bolivia elects a new president, Uruguay legalizes euthanasia, and the IMF issues a report card on regional economies.

Welcome back to Foreign Policy’s Latin America Brief.

The highlights this week: Bolivia elects a new president, Uruguay legalizes euthanasia, and the IMF issues a report card on regional economies.

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Center-right candidate Rodrigo Paz won decisively in Bolivia’s presidential runoff election on Sunday, ushering in a new political era for the country. For most of the past two decades, Bolivia has been run by the leftist Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) party of former President Evo Morales.

But disillusionment with MAS was so great that the party did not make it to this year’s runoff. That left voters to choose between Paz, a senator, and right-wing candidate Jorge Quiroga. On Sunday, Quiroga quickly acknowledged Paz’s victory. So did Morales, who previously criticized both candidates and asked his supporters to spoil their ballots.

Maps of the vote breakdown indicate that much of MAS’s Indigenous and working-class base put their hopes in Paz. Like Quiroga, Paz promised pro-market reforms—but unlike his right-wing opponent, he suggested that they would be gradual rather than abrupt. Paz espoused what he called “capitalism for all,” including for the benefit of poorer Bolivians.

The country’s deep economic crisis appears to have driven many Bolivians to seek a change. Annual inflation was at 23 percent in September, and fuel shortages have caused long lines at the pump. A dearth of U.S. dollar reserves has also cast doubt over whether the government can make upcoming debt payments to international lenders.

Bolivia will now become the latest test case of a pro-market economic overhaul in South America, around two years after President Javier Milei began a similar mission in Argentina. Both leaders aim to shake off government controls of the economy built up over decades.

Paz said during the campaign that he aims to reduce public spending to rein in Bolivia’s deficit and cut red tape to attract private investments. That includes in the country’s vast lithium flats, where mining is inching forward amid heavy state control.

Still, Paz’s platform is less extreme than Milei’s shock therapy. Bolivia’s president-elect said that he would not “sell out” the country’s main Uyuni salt flat, and that foreign investment there should benefit the local region.

Paz also appears to differ from Milei on foreign policy. Milei has prioritized ideological........

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