Smart News & Research for Latin America's Changemakers
Like their conservative predecessors, left-leaning presidents in Latin America have shown a tendency to fall for the vice of corruption. Recent studies argue the causes stem from more than just an absence of ethics but also high levels of inequality.
Ecuador still has a long way to go to recover from a polarizing ten years under populist Rafael Correa, but the first eight months of Lenín Moreno’s presidency have re-confirmed the importance of succession and regularly held elections.
President Moreno may not be a newfound ally for the U.S., but he is a reminder that today the greatest challenges to U.S. interests in the region aren’t ideological but criminality, poor governance and populism.
The controversies swirling around the victory of Lenin Moreno’s narrow victory demonstrate why it’s important to have credible professional electoral observers.
Soon Rafael Correa will be an ex-president. Will he go calmly into presidential retirement or noisily wait in the wings for a future return?
Let’s be clear: NATO isn’t encroaching in the hemisphere, nor does China represent a stable path out of dependency for Latin America. The former is a convenient, traditional boogey man and the latter an ahistorical pipe dream.
After a series of electoral setbacks for leftist candidates and incumbent coalitions over the past two years, Lenín Moreno, the candidate of the ruling left-wing Alianza País coalition will get the largest share of the vote.
In recent elections across the world, incumbent candidates have faced an uphill battle. Ecuadoreans might buck the trend in the upcoming election of February 19. Yet, if there are lessons to be learned from recent upsets, the last weeks of a campaign is when surprises begin to pop up.
Populism, a resilient phenomenon in Latin America, has enabled and relied on the inclusion of politically alienated masses to legitimize the weakening of institutions. How is court empowerment and independence possible in the face of such a powerful anti-institutional force? This research argues that the answer may be found in the same mechanisms that enable populism: popularity and legitimacy.
Según Fundamedios, “en las redacciones de los diarios ya no son los periodistas los que deciden los contenidos, las decisiones las toman los abogados de los diarios.”