With corruption scandals, popular protests and the revelations in the Panama Papers, it’s easy to think that corruption in Latin America has suddenly increased. It hasn’t, but Latin American institutions are better prepared to deal with the fallout.
Jimmy Morales rode a wave of popular awakening and anger to the presidency. Since coming to power, he’s relied on a dubious group of advisors and the same corrupt tactics of his predecessors.
Morales and Correa remain in power and maintain strong popular support, but their miscalculations have created the best chances yet of opening space for political competition in both countries. It presents an opportunity for political oppositions to rise to the occasion with policy proposals that reestablish checks and balances and strengthen independent institutions. Although the tide is turning against populist authoritarian regimes in Latin America, much remains to be done to restore democratic governance.
After the March 1st Super Tuesday results, many Canadians are ready to concede that Trump could become the next Republican candidate. That doesn’t mean, though, that they aren’t worried.
Whether MACCIH will have a real impact remains to be seen. But its installation in Honduras offers at least a glimmer of hope that positive changes can begin to take place. Continued pressure and monitoring from civil society, journalists, and international donors will be necessary to ensure that MACCIH reaches its full potential rather than frustrating good-faith efforts in the fight against corruption.
Whatever you may think of Evo Morales and his time in power, Bolivian voters’ narrow rejection of a constitutional amendment to allow him to run again is a good thing for the country’s politics and even Morales’ legacy.
After 11 years in power and the prospect of another four, what will come after Evo Morales and how his MAS will adapt to changing electoral patterns remains democracy’s biggest question in Bolivia.
Según Consejal Jesus Armas, “Ya no es una lucha entre gobierno y oposición, sino que, se ha convertido en una lucha entre el pueblo y un gobierno que nos ha empobrecido.”
The December 6, 2015 elections brought positive change for Venezuela, but this is only the beginning in a long process that is likely to be complicated and in which a positive outcome is far from guaranteed.
Thirty years after the Jean-Claude Duvalier fled Haiti, the Caribbean island country has been plagued by political upheaval, autocracy, and corruption. Now, though, after yet another electoral debacle, the international community has a rare opportunity to support the Haitian people, rather than an imperfect, temporary way out of a crisis.
