A year of lockdowns, high unemployment, and rising poverty rates has provoked social discontent in Colombia. The current wave of protests—while originally triggered by the government’s poorly conceived, strategized, and communicated tax reform proposal—have been further inflamed by police brutality, a tone-deaf government response, and a vacuum of political leadership.
The doctor’s orders are now calling for investigations into cases of human rights violations committed during the citizen protests, the suspension of the selection of members of the Constitutional Court until the next Congress is seated in July 2021, and international monitoring and dialogue between stakeholders who are maintaining the current, fragile stability.
Las órdenes del médico ahora piden la investigación de los casos de violaciones de derechos humanos cometidas durante las protestas ciudadanas, la suspensión de la selección de los miembros de la Corte Constitucional hasta que se asiente el próximo Congreso en julio de 2021, y el seguimiento y diálogo internacional entre los actores que están manteniendo la frágil estabilidad actual.
Notoriously weak political parties are fueling Peru’s chronic instability. But they also stopped Manuel Merino and his allies from uniting to hold onto power.
The death of Javier Ordóñez in Colombia has sparked social unrest that reveals frustrations that go far beyond police brutality.
Farah joins the podcast to speak on his recently published report for the William Perry Center on how the Bolivarian Alliance, led by the Nicolás Maduro regime, used legitimate protests in Chile, Colombia and Ecuador to sow chaos in these countries.
Taking advantage of the demonstrations that flared across Latin America at the end of 2019, outside actors worked to push legitimate social protest to violent extremes as a part of a deliberate destabilization strategy.
Chile’s plebiscite has been pushed to October 25 after concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic. But as debate over reforming the country’s constitution intensifies, could a more polarized society ensue?
Popular protests are rocking Haiti’s government, and have included allegations of an assassination attempt against the president. Some see Venezuela’s fingerprints on parts of the unrest.
Whenever an authoritarian ruler succeeds in subverting democracy, the responsibility for the democratic backsliding must be more widely shared. Here’s why.
