Demonstrations in Peru light up alert to the loss of democratic quality throughout Latin America

The demonstrations that have taken place in Peru since the beginning of December, following the removal of Pedro Castillo from the presidency, have sparked an alert about the democratic situation in Latin America.

A study carried out by Idea International, an intergovernmental organization that supports sustainable democracy around the world, pointed out that there has been a loss in democratic quality in the region and that democracy is weakened.

According to experts, this situation makes room for the emergence of an outsider and anti-establishment, that is, it leaves countries at the mercy of authoritarian leaders.

The protests in Peru, in themselves, should not affect other regions of Latin America, because the Peruvian political situation has its own characteristics that make the country have had six presidents in four years.

And that is precisely what makes the population tired and has led them to take to the streets to demand the resignation of Dina Boluarte, who assumed the presidency after Castillo’s departure, general elections and a new Constituent Assembly.

However, this scenario shows the difficulty that rulers have in fulfilling their promises when they come to power.

“In recent years, in general, Latin America has been experiencing very strong political and democratic instability, and this affects the entire region, for economic, commercial and reputational reasons”, explains Eduardo Fayet, consultant and specialist in Institutional and Governmental Relations.

According to him, when you have this political instability, it makes exports between countries difficult, the ability to establish commercial, political and diplomatic relationships decreases and the region is discredited due to low security and political instability.

“This puts us in an unfavorable regional position in relation to other areas that may start to occupy a greater role than Latin America”, says Fayet, adding that this disqualifies the region as a place that could have improved political and social development in a structured way.

For him, these democratic problems are related to two factors: economics and political polarization.

“Economic power generates two complicated things: social inequality and economic imbalance. These two elements create a ‘soup’ for political polarization, which is very strong for reducing the quality of democracy in Latin America,” he explains.

Leandro Almeida, a doctoral student in political science at USP (University of São Paulo), says that the biggest problem the region faces is the shock of expectations of the population and political forces, because of the government’s difficulty in delivering what was promised during the campaigns.

“This expectation and reality affects Peru, but also other countries. While the Peruvian protests are unlikely to spread elsewhere, because they have a personal dynamic, Peru has a common background with other places in Latin America.”

Like Eduardo, Leandro also talks about the difficulty caused by polarization.

“We have a popular dissatisfaction with the political system that has given way to authoritarian systems”, says Almeida.

He adds that we see anti-establishment sentiment in several countries.

“We see this populist ascendancy emerging or managing to reach the government with relevant political strength. El Salvador is the main example of the emergence of a populist leader with authoritarian practices”.

The expert also says that outsiders are becoming more relevant and traditional political parties are losing ground. A Gallup poll conducted in ten South American countries between 2009 and 2016 showed that 76% of Peruvians did not trust their national government, marking the highest level of such distrust documented in the region.

Another North American survey pointed out that satisfaction with democracy in Peru went from 52% to 21%.

POLITICAL SITUATION IN PERU

Since December 7, when then-President Pedro Castillo tried to carry out a coup d’état, the country has experienced intense demonstrations.

On Thursday night, the 19th, for example, hundreds of demonstrators, some who traveled more than 24 hours, headed for the country’s capital with the intention of ‘taking Lima’, claiming that the region has a greater weight in the struggle.

“It is a fair and democratic demonstration by citizens who arrived from the regions and also from here, from Lima, where they are calling for the immediate resignation of Dina Boluarte, the calling of new elections for this year, 2023, and the closure of Congress”, says trade unionist Gerónimo López, who called the strike.

“It is a popular national civic strike with peaceful demonstrations by organizations from different regions, avoiding any act of vandalism,” he added.

Eduardo Fayet says that the problems in the country are not new. On the contrary, since the time of Alberto Fujimori, Peru has faced systematic instability, with several removals from office – in four years there were six presidents.

“This is a result of political instability, which stems from polarization. With that, the parties involved no longer negotiate, they no longer want to make an agreement and are not willing to create common solutions for the country to develop”, says the expert.

Fayet also says that this problem caused by polarization is not something specific to Peru, but a worldwide issue. However, he says that in the Latin American country it has been more notorious, especially if you look at the regions that are demonstrating, which are those located in the south and that live in a situation of extreme poverty.

“The population is seeing that there is no consensus and that the political class is corrupted, there are a number of things that do not create a State, this becomes a vicious circle”, says Fayet.

Leandro Almeida adds that in Peru there is a difficult relationship between the Executive and the Legislative, which allows “Congress to remove the president very quickly compared to other countries”.

The political scientist says that the protesters’ requests have been very ambitious, one of them being the resignation of Dina Boluarte, who has already said that she will not leave the post.

However, Fayet believes the likelihood of her leaving office or being impeached is high, given the low level of approval.

The Institute of Peruvian Studies (IEP), showed that 71% of the population disapproves of the brutality with which Boluarte is conducting her government, while 19% approve and 10% did not know or refrained from responding.

Regarding Congress, the numbers are even higher: 88% of the population disapproves of its performance and only 9% approves.

Fayet speaks of the possibility of Boluarte’s departure and the holding of new elections, however, he warns of the need to know whether Peru will be able to reassemble an election “with the necessary political and legal security to generate a situation of reasonable political stability in the country. This is the big doubt, because in the recent history they were unable to create it”.

With information from Jovem Pan