Brazilians learned they have a gay governor; LGBTQ acceptance is expanding in some countries; and Chile adopted full marriage equality.
Media coverage of the December 8-10 Summit for Democracy has largely focused on President Joe Biden’s remarks, coupled with critical reactions from China, Russia, and skeptical U.S. pundits. Few U.S. commentators seem to have bothered to listen to the three days of often thoughtful remarks by other world leaders and the many intelligent, emotionally engaging panelists representing a broad swath of civil society, business, and academia.
The United States no longer has the luxury to scold its partners in the region. Washington has never faced a hemisphere so politically disposed to resist U.S. pressure, or so fully enabled by an adversary’s money to do so.
The failures in exporting American democracy call for the reframing of democracy promotion as a strategy. If the Biden administration develops a combined regional strategy, it could represent a renewed opportunity.
Bukele has responded to critics with derision, even changing his Twitter bio to “Dictator of El Salvador.” He leaves just enough doubt to say, “I was only joking.” But it’s not a joke.
When United States Vice President Kamala Harris said she wants to help bring hope to the people of Central America—and do it in partnership with local organizations—I was inspired. Generating hope requires rallying all stakeholders around solutions that work. Bringing private sector resources and civil society to the table, as Vice President Harris has recently done ahead of her upcoming visit to Guatemala and Mexico, is a critical step forward.
En los últimos dos años, por razones diversas, he seguido de cerca lo que ocurre en El Salvador. Debo decir que no me sorprendieron los hechos más recientes, que incluyen la destitución abrupta de los magistrados de la Sala Constitucional y del Fiscal General, por una Asamblea Legislativa en la cual el presidente Nayib Bukele tiene la mayoría holgada.
President Nayib Bukele’s drive to consolidate power represents another test of the international community’s ability to defend democratic principles. With El Salvador’s democracy in grave jeopardy, the stakes for the U.S. and the rest of Central America could not be higher.
In creating an economic strategy, President Biden and his administration are stuck between conflicting policy goals of relocating industrial supply chains back to the United States and of reducing migration from Central America, where so many of these factories are located.
This week, new developments came to light in the decades-long saga of the El Mozote massacre, one of the most high-profile incidents of human rights abuses in modern Central American history.
