Central America knows how to create trends. At least in politics. The year 1954 is a clear example of this, because it was then that a coup d’état took place against the president of Guatemala, Jacobo Árbenz, who had stood up to the interests of the powerful Guatemalan oligarchy and American companies, mainly the United Fruit Company. This military mutiny “marked the beginning of an era of legitimization of political violence to eliminate populist leaders,” write María Esperanza Casullo and Harry Brown, authors of Populism in Central America (Populism in Central America), which analyzes the rise of radical leaders like Nayib Bukele in El Salvador, another political demagogue whose strong measures to eradicate violence have sparked a wave of admiration across the continent, from Panama to Argentina.
Central America and the Caribbean in no way follow the political trends of their southern (or northern) neighbors, but on the contrary often initiate them or mark milestones, the authors assert in their work. For Casullo, a native of Argentina, and Brown, a native of Costa Rica, events unfolding in this strip of land that connects the continent help to understand populist advances in the region and their consequences for democracy. The two authors discussed this global phenomenon during a video call. “Populism is a warning about what is wrong with democracy,” Brown warns.
Bukele is under media fire due to his great popularity. El Salvador’s controversial president re-elected with 85% of the votes and maintains control of Congress and the judiciary; despite his authoritarian policy and his authoritarian drift, his project is supported by the vast majority of Salvadorans. Why does the young president appeal to voters so much? “Because populism is effective,” replies Casullo, who holds a doctorate in government studies from Georgetown University. “It generates enthusiasm and mobilization at this historic moment, making normal politics faces many difficulties because we are living in a period of great uncertainty and polarization,” she adds. Furthermore, says Casullo, Latin America has problems that governments have failed to solve, such as inequality, poverty and organized crime, and that is why politicians choose “the populist strategy, because it is effective, it generates a political identity, that is to say it is, it generates a mobilized and convinced “we”.
Leaders like Bukele or Javier Milei of Argentina have been able to read this discontent and attract those who feel trapped by injustice, and thus create a common enemy against whom to direct their discontent, which may be political parties or traditional elites (the “caste”, as Milei called it). it), multinational organizations like the International Monetary Fund or the World Bank, civil organizations or activist groups like feminists, the media or external powers, whether the United States or the European Union. “When this populist myth is triggered, very deep identification processes are generated. This allows us to act, because on the basis of this myth, we can adopt very profound reforms, reform the Constitution, completely transform the criminal policy of a country,” says Casullo.
Radical populists
In their book, the researchers define Bukele as a “radical populist”, even if the leader of the small Central American country presents himself as a modern man, an effective CEO, capable of transforming and improving the large company that been entrusted. him; a cool and friendly young man who moves the masses through his effective use of social media. His actions, however, mimic the old tricks of Latin American authoritarianism, which include messianic overtones and claims to be anointed by God. “Bukele became a dissident after coming from the system; he dared to leave the system and point the finger at it, and I believe that this is an attitude in which a good part of the population can see themselves reflected”, warns Harry Brown, doctor of political science from the Complutense University. Madrid.
“What Bukele did was blame the problems on a political event that is almost sacred to Latin and Central American democrats, namely the peace accords, calling them a pact between corrupt people. One of the conclusions of the book is that in Central America, the enemies pointed out by the populists are precisely these pacts, which they call agreements between elites, which do not allow access to new actors capable of solving the problems of the country. And Bukele, with his attitude and his way of presenting himself, embodies the possibility of a future that the Salvadorans had not been able to find,” adds the author.
Costa Rica, considered a solid democracy, is not spared from this new populist wave. The chosen country Rodrigo Chaves, a technocrat who channeled anger against elites, as the new president. “The case of Costa Rica attracts a lot of attention, because it has been and continues to be one of the strongest democracies in Latin America, and now it has a president with very marked populist traits. The big difference in the case of Costa Rica is that the populist myth looks to the past, because it is the only country in Central America, and one of the few in Latin America, to once have had a small state -welfare. Costa Ricans are really aware that they lived better before, and part of President Chaves’ campaign was focused on becoming the happiest country in the world again,” says Brown.
In their book, the authors focus on an element that already defines democracy in the region, namely the collapse of traditional political parties. We see this in El Salvador, with the collapse of ARENA and the disappearance of the left-wing FMLN from popularly elected positions, but also in Costa Rica, where the parties have fallen into a deep crisis. “Central American political parties have never been very strong, but it is true that the accumulation of demands points directly to those responsible for the political systems. The paradox of all this is that to build new regimes, as some populists propose, you need organization, which is why they do not necessarily want to put an end to political parties, but often end up organizing them, because they We need it to mobilize and unite a population that may not be united by class or ethnicity, as is the case in Bolivia, but needs an institutionalized body to articulate the mobilization of the population,” Brown says.
The populist wave
Populists like Bukele or Milei generate great attraction at the regional level, and their measures generate popularity and are followed by politicians in the region, in what seems to be a new political paradigm in Latin America, from Colombia to Paraguay . “Populism always functions like this, by imitation of repertoires. There is no ideology, there is no Mao’s Red Book or a populist Fourth International. They are presented as successful examples that are adapted and copied in other contexts,” explains Casullo. “We South Americans don’t look much at Central America, but what we are seeing now in countries like Argentina are very similar processes. For example, in Rosario, which has a very big drug trafficking problem“We have seen photos in a prison in the same style as in El Salvador, and I think we will continue to see that at least in the medium term,” she adds.
Can the region’s democracies survive this populist wave? “Yes, totally,” Casullo says. “The best resource for action is strategic patience and betting on political action. These types of governments have internal fissures, they may succeed, so to speak, in reducing poverty or reducing crime, but it is very costly to maintain this constant antagonism, and the society, which at the beginning may feel enthusiastic and mobilized, over time wants to return to a more or less normal life,” she adds. “There is hope,” Brown said. “This populist moment should serve as a warning about what is wrong with democracy and I hope elites take note and become more aware of what needs to be reformed and what needs to be fixed, because the passage of populism to authoritarianism This is exceptional, it is not the rule.
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