UN warns Latin American and Caribbean democracies are "under pressure"

Democracies across Latin America and the Caribbean are facing a significant "pressure" and a gradual erosion from within, according to a new report by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The document, titled 'Democracies under pressure: Reimagining the futures of democracy and development in Latin America and the Caribbean,' was presented in Guatemala.

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Part of a paradox that we see in Latin America and the Caribbean has to do with a very important consolidation of democracies in the region, but at the same time a systemic feeling from all parts of society that these democracies are under pressure today.

While the region remains the most democratic in the developing world, with over 80% of citizens living under elected governments, deep-seated challenges persist. These include profound economic inequality, tax systems that lack redistributive capacity, and insufficient gender parity and inclusion of indigenous peoples. These structural social "debts" are compounded by emerging transnational threats.

The UNDP identifies several key pressures, including extreme political polarization, disinformation amplified by artificial intelligence on social media, increased human mobility within the region, the global climate crisis, and organized crime's infiltration of institutions through illicit campaign financing. These factors collectively strain democratic systems.

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Our country's democracy is never consolidated, it is always to be consolidated and it can always degrade.

In response, the report issues a "call for collective action" to revitalize the relationship between democracy, human development, and the effective functioning of the state. Proposed actions include rebuilding the representational base of political parties, limiting the influence of economic power on public decisions, and ensuring a more uniform state presence in marginalized territories. The UNDP emphasizes that organized crime's capture of state institutions distorts the promise of political equality through violence, coercion, and illicit funding.

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organized crime organizations are capturing parts of the state, having influence through violence, through coercion and through illicit financing in electoral processes and in decision-making processes, thus distorting the promise of political equality.