The Redemocratization of Latin America

By: Beatrice E. Rangel - 22/10/2024

For most analysts of Latin American reality, the 21st century was destined to be the scene of the rise and consolidation of authoritarian governments with characteristics different from those that plagued the region in the 20th century. These characteristics can be summed up as the confiscation of sovereignty; the capture of economic resources; the plundering of the state and the destruction of the institutional framework that had sustained the democratic experiments initiated during the 1980s. These regimes, defined as Autocracies Inc. by the sharp wit of Anne Applebaum, have been the trigger for an imperceptible but firm movement of civil society in many countries that is destined to redefine the pillars of Latin American republics.

This process is most visible in Venezuela, but it is not long in coming to light in Mexico, Colombia, and Brazil. Because in these nations, democratic institutions have faced severe dilemmas that have brought them to the edge of democratic breakdown. In Mexico, the so far successful attempt led by Amlo to turn back the clock of history to 1929 when Plutarco Elias Calles founded the Institutional Revolutionary Party has challenges to consolidate. The PRI established what Mario Vargas Llosa described as “the perfect dictatorship” since there were elections, people could discreetly express their political inclination, and the Mexican state provided education, health, and transportation services with quality and reasonable costs. In exchange, Mexicans owed loyalty to the PRI as a mechanism of political mobilization, and the will of the PRI or its top leadership was the law in Mexico. But it turns out that the experiment has no chance of consolidating itself because thirty years of free trade with the United States and Canada have created a middle class with interests different from those of the PRI leadership of the 20th century. Thus, Mexican civil society, to which many of those currently affiliated with the Morena party belong, will not accept being returned to the status quo before Ernesto Zedillo, who was the architect of democratic institutions. Therefore, to the extent that Ms. Sheinbaum moves away from the path of intensifying near-shoring with the United States, to that same extent, the Mexican middle classes will turn their backs on her and a period of democratic construction will begin in Mexico.

In Venezuela, civil society, which never lowered its democratic flag, found - after a long ordeal - the leadership it needed to get rid of the pariah regime that holds the country hostage. And with Maria Corina Machado at the forefront, Venezuelan civil society is preparing to recreate democracy with new foundations that will allow it to reestablish balances between powers and the supervision of civil society over the actions of governments. Cuba is falling apart. For a week now, it has not had electricity because the generation and distribution grid collapsed due to poor maintenance. The nation that discovered the system of exploitation of international charity, presenting itself as the David that defeated the Goliath incarnated by the United States, has just discovered that 25% of Cubans live in Miami and that the rest of the population would already be installed on 8th Street if they had the freedom to do so. As a result, not even its own people are impressed by the anti-Yankee feat.

In Colombia, Petro is managing to strengthen democratic institutions by attacking them daily with proposals to dismantle them. In this way, he has strengthened the already vibrant Colombian civil society that has not given any president who tries to deviate from the democratic channel a break.

In Bolivia, two transnational organized crime gangs that support Evo Morales and Luis Arce are fighting for control of power. In the process, they are about to lay the groundwork for a civil war that would put an end to the current dispute at a truly horrifying cost in lives.

In Brazil, the suffocating authoritarian control of the central state has generated antibodies in civil society that is preparing to support a libertarian avalanche in the upcoming elections.

In short, the Latin American region is preparing to take part in a democratic construction process unprecedented in its history. And perhaps this process will be disruptive for the Latin American elites who have always made pacts with power to the detriment of democracy.

«The opinions published herein are the sole responsibility of its author».