Political Freedom:
Nicaragua Worse, Haiti
Better
Latin Business Chronicle
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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