The Foreign Service Journal, May 2018

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MAY 2018 33 Justice Index, with Honduras, Bolivia and Venezuela scoring as the bottom three. Eleven other Latin American countries, including Ecuador, Colombia and Mexico, fell within the bot- tom tercile, as well. On the WJP’s Rule of Law Index, Venezuela was again dead last at 113—below Cambodia, Zimbabwe and Afghanistan—while Bolivia and Honduras scored among the worst in the world, at 106 and 103, respectively. The index noted that, compared to 2016, 14 countries in the Americas slipped down, while only 11 improved and five stayed the same. The apparent inability of these governments to combat crime has provoked two disturbing responses that may not bode well for stability in the region. First, it has provided yet another reason for people to emigrate. Recent surveys by both Vanderbilt University and the Inter-American Dialogue indicate that inse- curity and the fear of crime now appear to be one of the most important “push” factors that compel people to emigrate. A significant percentage of migrants from Guatemala, Hon- duras and El Salvador cited violence—not economic opportunities or family reunification— as their primary motive for entering the United States. Second, it seems clear that many people in the Americas feel democ- racy has not delivered on its promises. Job creation, access to quality education, poverty alleviation, citizen security and improvements in the quality of life have not reached enough Latin Americans, especially the poor. Although the World Bank projects that the region’s economies will grow on average by 1.2 percent in 2017 and 2.1 percent in 2018, the growth of the middle class has slowed. Consequently, some 39 percent of Latin Americans are vulnerable to falling back into pov- erty. And even though the middle class has grown a little, so has inequality. Despite substantial improvements between 2002 and 2014, Latin America still has the highest level of income inequality in the world. Restoring Faith in Democracy When governments don’t effectively combat crime, many people conclude that a democratic system can’t protect them. They therefore become more inclined to sacrifice some freedom for more security. Vanderbilt University’s 2017 Latin American Public Opinion Poll reveals that popular support for democracy reached its lowest regional average in 2014 (the last year for which we have comparable data across the region), even as responses favoring “authoritarian stability” and citing “democ- racy at risk” hit levels not seen in decades. These antidemocratic attitudes were particularly pronounced in Brazil, Haiti, Venezu- ela, Paraguay and Jamaica. The Economist Intelligence Unit’s 2017 Democracy Index also showed a broad decline in support for democracy. Of the 24 Latin American countries encompassed in its review, only one, Uruguay, was categorized as a full democracy. Fifteen were branded “flawed” democracies, five were “hybrids” and two—Venezuela and Cuba—were identified as “authoritar- ian regimes.” All of these studies point to a disturbing decline in support for democratic structures throughout the Americas. Part of the explana- tion for this regression from democratic norms can be attributed to rampant corruption. Vanderbilt’s LAPOP sur- veys have documented that this has a strong, corrosive influence on citizens’ trust in their government. In Latin America, corruption has historically been widespread and deep-seated and impunity commonplace. Still, the unfolding of the Oderbrecht bribery scandal has shocked voters from Brazil to the Dominican Republic, and led to the resignations of Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski and Ecuadoran Vice President Jorge Glas, and the latter’s subse- quent sentencing to six years in prison. This anticorruption effort, initiated by crusading public prosecutors in Brazil and embraced by suits filed by both public prosecutors and private citizens in other Latin American countries, may reflect an awakening of activism in Latin America to finally try to weed out corruption and impunity. The World Justice Project ranked the vast majority of Latin American and Caribbean countries in the bottom third in the world in terms of combating corruption. Transparency Inter- On May 20, 2017, millions marched in Caracas to mark the 50th consecutive day of protests, demanding an end to repression and immediate elections. VOICEOFAMERICA/WIKIMEDIACOMMONS