Worrying. The Barometer of America LAPOP has released its latest report on democracy across the Latin American region.
The document, the result of more than 40,000 interviews conducted in 34 countries across the Americas, details that support for democracy has steadily declined over the past decade and shows no signs of recovery.
From 2021 to 2023, the proportion of democracy supporters fell from 61% to 59%. This means that since 2016, two out of five adults have not expressed support for democracy.
The countries with the best proportions in favor of a democratic culture include Uruguay (75%), Costa Rica (72%), Chile (70%), Argentina (68%) and El Salvador (67%).
However, the countries with the lowest values democratically These are Honduras (48%), Suriname and Guatemala (47%).
On the other hand, according to the report, “attitudes conducive to a stable democracy have declined in the LAC region since the beginning of the Barometer of the Americas.” In 2023, 33% of Latin Americans belong to the profile of a democracy at risk, while 31% correspond to the profile that is conducive to authoritarian stability.
In the case of Peru, we are the country with the citizen profile with the greatest tendency to create an endangered democracy, at 46%, and a unstable democracy (17%), as in the Dominican Republic.
This means that Peru is one of the countries with the lowest satisfaction with democracy (19%), ahead only of Suriname (13%) and Haiti (12%).
Free expression
According to LAPOP, “Concern about freedom of expression has increased among government critics in many countries.”
These are countries that score points as regimes with little freedom Nicaragua (90%) and The saviour (89%).
In the Peruvian case, this negative perception of freedom increased by 5 points. In 2022 it was 66% and last year it was 71%.
Trust in institutions
Several worrying but not surprising data. Peru is the country in all of Latin America that least trusts its government (7%) and its parliament (10%).
On the other hand, the survey indicates that the vast majority of respondents have greater trust in the armed forces than in the police Latin American countries.
In Peru, 50% of respondents say they trust it Armed forceswhile 71% say they distrust the National Police.
When it comes to the countries' highest court, Peru tops the list of societies that least trust their legal system, with 84% distrust.
Migration due to multiple crises and lack of opportunities
In the vast majority of countries, intentions to emigrate have increased. In the Peruvian case (40%), an increase of 7% was registered compared to 2022 (33%).
In addition, Peru (31%) recorded a 14% increase in food insecurity compared to 2022 (17%). This has also happened in other countries.
There are some reasons for hope
- Not everything is lost. According to LAPOP, new generations are more sensitive to democratic values than older ones.
- “There are reasons to be optimistic about the future of democracy in Latin America. Younger people are comparatively more committed to democracy than previous generations were when they were young.”