| BY
CHRONICLE STAFF
Nicaragua
and
Venezuela
are seeing a trend towards less
political freedom, while
Haiti
is improving and the rest of
Latin America
largely remains the same, according
to Freedom House, a
U.S.-based bipartisan watchdog
of civil liberties and
political rights worldwide.
"Latin
America today is largely
governed by parties that have
demonstrated a commitment to the
electoral process, freedom of
expression, and a broad range of
civil liberties," the
organization said last week.
"However, Freedom
in the World judged
that freedom in
Venezuela
remained under duress, and
Nicaragua
also suffered a decline. On the
positive side,
Haiti
showed signs of modest
progress."
Venezuela
continues to get a 4 in civil rights
and political rights, making it
"partly free,"
according to Freedom House. That
remains the third-worst result
in
Latin America
.
HAITI
MAKES PROGRESS
Haiti
continues to score worse -
getting 4 in political rights
and 5 in civil liberties. That
means
Haiti
continues to rank as the
second-worst country in Latin
America (after
Cuba
) when it comes to political
freedom. But, in contrast to
Venezuela
,
Haiti
is making some progress, Freedom
House argues. "
Haiti
showed signs of modest
progress due to enhanced
political stability and an
improved security environment in
urban areas," the
organization says.
Chile
,
Costa Rica
and
Uruguay
remain the only countries in
Latin America
that get a perfect score - 1 -
on civil liberties and
political rights.
Panama
follows the three, thanks to
having a slightly worse core in
civil liberties (2).
Brazil - Latin America's largest
economy - gets a 2 on both civil liberties
and political rights, while
Mexico ranks slightly worse,
thanks to only getting a score
of 3 on civil liberties.
Freedom
House argues that although
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez
dominated the headlines last
year, the "more significant
story" was the durability
of the region’s democratic
institutions in the face of
multiple problems.
CHAVEZ
FAILS
"Among the major challenges
is Chavez’s drive to export
his authoritarian brand of
socialism to the rest of
Latin America
," the organization says.
"Thus far he has largely
failed in this endeavor.
Although politicians who claim
to admire Chavez won
presidential races in
Bolivia
,
Ecuador
, and
Nicaragua
in 2005 and 2006, none will be
able to count on a similar
oil-based revenue windfall to
implement unsustainable economic
policies, and at least in
Bolivia
and
Nicaragua
, more formidable opposition
forces exist to challenge
executive power."
Overall, Latin America is
largely governed by parties of
the center-left or center-right
that have demonstrated a
commitment to the electoral
process, freedom of expression,
and a broad range of civil
liberties, Freedom House says.
However, Venezuela's political
freedom is still under duress
despite Chavez' loss of a
December 3 referendum that would
have eliminated presidential
term limits, added yet more
authority to the executive
branch, and enshrined various
measures of economic populism in
law, according to the
organization. "While the
referendum results indicated the
resilience of civil society,
Freedom in the World judged that
freedom in
Venezuela
remained under duress, pointing
to pressures on freedom of
assembly, the independent press,
and academic freedom,"
Freedom House points out.
Nicaragua
suffered a decline due to
excessive concentration of
authority in the executive
branch and the adoption of a law
that criminalized abortion under
all circumstances, it adds.
CORRUPTION
AND CRIME
But
Chavez isn't the only threat to
democracy in
Latin America
, it says. "In addition to
the kind of leftist populism
embodied in the Chavismo
phenomenon,
Latin America
faces serious obstacles to
stability including entrenched
corruption, an upsurge in
criminal activity, and a
dysfunctional judicial
system," Freedom House
says. "Even as the region
boasts the freest political
environment in its history, many
countries suffer from the worst
rates of violent crime in the
world, a problem that
contributes to the ambivalence
toward democracy professed in
public opinion surveys.
Latin America
also continues to face high
levels of poverty, economic
insecurity, and inequality. The
fact that democracy is almost
universally upheld in a region
that was only recently dominated
by juntas and strongmen is an
impressive achievement, but the
consolidation of these gains is
unlikely without greater
physical and economic security,
equality of opportunity, and the
rule of law."
The Freedom House rankings show
a close relation between level
of corruption and degree of
political freedom. The three
freest countries in Latin
America -
Chile
,
Costa Rica
and
Uruguay
- are also the three that boast
the highest degree of
transparency, according to
Transparency International.
Meanwhile, Venezuela and Haiti -
which rank at the bottom (with
Cuba) when it comes to political
freedom, are also the worst two
nations when it comes to
corruption, according to a Latin
Business Chronicle analysis of
the data from Freedom House and
Transparency International.
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