In Latin America’s 2024 electoral super-cycle, voters seem likely to reward leaders who address their most fundamental needs—in some cases regardless of whether they value democracy, clean government or the rule of law.
En América Latina, los llamados “outsiders” con agendas anti-sistema o anti-establishment – desde Alberto Fujimori en Perú hasta Hugo Chávez en Venezuela, Nayib Bukele en El Salvador, Donald Trump en Estados Unidos y Jair Bolsonaro en Brasil – han tenido un fuerte impacto en el Estado de derecho tras asumir el poder.
As Venezuela’s presidential elections, scheduled for 2024, draw closer, the international community’s attention is primarily focused on how to use leverage to ensure minimal electoral conditions. US high-level officials have publicly said they would ease some of the economic and political sanctions imposed on the country in exchange for meaningful concessions by Nicolas Maduro’s government, and there is clearly an ongoing back channel between US and Venezuelan authorities along these lines. While this discussion is essential, it often overshadows a vital aspect of the conversation—the plan for what comes next. No transition of power is possible without a clear path forward after election day.
In Latin America today, traditional coups are no longer the biggest threat to liberal democracy. More perilous are democratically elected leaders who, once in power, deliberately and gradually undermine basic guarantees, such as judicial autonomy, electoral integrity, independent press work and free expression.
Earlier this year, tens of thousands of Mexicans took to the streets to protest newly enacted legislation gutting the country’s highly-regarded National Electoral Institute (INE) in advance of state elections this year and presidential elections in 2024.
Lo cierto es que la realidad venezolana dista mucho de ser normal. No debemos confundir falta de atención o visibilidad, o simplemente cansancio de leer o escuchar lo mismo, con normalización. En el país, aún persisten tres crisis simultáneas, aunque no sean más portada de los diarios internacionales.
Santiago Canton and Benjamin Gedan offered recommendations for how to increase transparency and combat corruption in Latin America in an article for the Georgetown Journal for International Affairs
This report from the Peter D. Bell Rule of Law Program describes the main points of interest regarding the operation of the Facebook Oversight Board (FOB) and the inclusion of international human rights law in its decisions, with special emphasis on its impact on freedom of expression in Latin America.
Se cumple el 20º aniversario de la publicación de la Carta Democrática que proclamaba el fortalecimiento y la defensa de los principios básicos de la democracia en el continente. Su eficacia como mecanismo colectivo de defensa de la democracia debe ser medida teniendo en cuenta la realidad de nuestros países.
Una recorrida por la Latinoamérica de la ultima década nos obliga a preguntar si la tercera ola democrática ha llegado a su fin y el péndulo ya se encuentra nuevamente del lado autoritario.
This report from the Peter D. Bell Rule of Law Program posits that policy reforms adopted out of necessity during the pandemic in regards to prison policy, some of which were considered politically unpalatable before the Covid-19 emergency, offer important lessons and in some cases proof of concept for overdue shifts in prison policy.
As the Biden administration prepares to restore US leadership on the global stage, enhanced coordination with Latin America and the Caribbean on vital issues such as climate change, human rights, and a rules-based trading system beckons as a strategic opportunity. The president-elect, more than any recent occupant of the White House, is well placed to seize it.
When President Biden takes office in January, he will not approach Latin America with a blank checkbook or magic formulas for hemispheric comity and recovery, but he will offer his characteristic humanity, his belief in the region’s promise, and his administration’s steadfast engagement.
This report from the Dialogue’s Peter D. Bell Rule of Law Program analyzes one of the salient features of contemporary Venezuela—rampant corruption—and presents detailed proposals for repatriating stolen assets for the benefit of the Venezuelan people.
Este es el momento para modernizar nuestros sistemas electorales. Debemos introducir mecanismos especiales de votación que no erosionen la confianza en la integridad de los comicios.
