Democracy in South America

Sunday's (May 31) elections in Colombia and Ecuador furnish further proof that democracy is still alive and well in South America toward the end of the second decade since its return.

Latin American democracy today suffers from a paradoxical dualism -- it becomes increasingly entrenched as time goes by, it is also increasingly disenchanting to the citizenry. One prime reason is exactly what has been happening here in Argentina for most of this year -- even more relentlessly than with the World Cup; everything seems to take second place to (Argentine presidential) elections still well over a year away while common sense in public life seems subordinated to electioneering and populism.

While the United States and European countries are constantly telling Latin America that democracy and the free market go hand in hand, many Latin Americans cannot help suspect that democracy is the antithesis of the normal working of a free economy, given the constant electoral interference.

-- The Buenos Aires Herald, Buenos Aires