Argentinian President Javier Milei warned attendees of the World Economic Forum to reject socialism and said that Western values and systems are under threat.

When we read about Latin America, the news is often focused on dysfunction at the U.S.-Mexico border and the waves of immigrants crossing it. The "border crisis" tends to grab the most headlines.

While immigration is a policy challenge that deserves attention, it is actually downstream from a separate question: Why can’t Latin American countries offer enough economic opportunity to keep their citizens thriving at home?

This question defies an easy explanation, but one contributing factor is the "pink tide" ideological revolution that began a quarter-century ago with Hugo Chavez’s ascent to power in Venezuela. Chavez contended that this movement, also called "21st-century socialism," would sweep across the Western Hemisphere and usher in a new era of equality and shared prosperity. Yet, in a matter of years, it brought only disaster to Venezuela and the countries that emulated his example, particularly Argentina, Bolivia, and Nicaragua.

JAVIER MILEI CRUSHES ARGENTINE LEFT, BECOMES WORLD'S FIRST LIBERTARIAN HEAD OF STATE

Rather than continuing to make gains, as many Latin American countries did following their free-market reforms of the 1990s, the pink tide washed away economic opportunity and made refugees of people who saw no other way to get ahead. Millions of these people are........

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