Obama in Latin America: The transition to democracy

Authors:
Luis Alberto López Rafaschieri and José Alberto López Rafaschieri
www.morochos.net

The U.S. president traveled to Latin America. Barack Obama visited Brazil, Chile and El Salvador, on a five-day tour organized by the White House. Drug trafficking, terrorism, free trade, human rights, etc., were among the topics covered, but of all these issues, the transition to democracy could be one of the most remarkable.

It is no coincidence that the three countries visited by Barack Obama have had a recent political history that shows the successful replacement of authoritarianism with democracy. Until 1985, Brazil was ruled by military juntas that were gradually replaced by civilian governments. In Chile, the dictator Augusto Pinochet was deposed in 1988 to make way for a golden age of democratic reforms. And in El Salvador, a bloody civil war ended in 1992, leaving behind years of political instability and despotism.

Obama's visit to these three countries has been accompanied by criticism of the Cuban political system and Latin American leaders "who cling to bankrupt ideologies to justify their own power", in clear reference to Hugo Chavez. In addition, the tour is parallel to the beginning of U.S. military operations in Libya and to the anti-dictatorship revolutions in the Arab world, making it clear that one of the main messages the U.S. president sought to send, during his visit to Latin America, is associated to revive the Western model of democracy.

---

Related articles:

• Polls for Peru's presidential election
• Gaddafi and the Latin American left
• The Palmer code