From the 1980s onward and following a turbulent twentieth century, Latin America made its peace with democracy. A unique and remarkable development occurred that was to become known as the Latin American "New Left." Yet the political forms adopted by these movements in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Uruguay, and Venezuela were very different. In this paper, we offer an outline of the Latin American lefts and their relations with constitutional democracy. In particular, we analyze the case of Argentina, and we discuss the utility of the concept of the New Left in characterizing this political phenomenon.