Rise of Democracy in South America
Rise of Democracy in South AmericaSouth America is a land of different cultures and has a history
of as many different types of government, mostly dictatorships. Most
of South America won independence from Spain and Portugal between 1810
and 1824. In 1823, President James Monroe enunciated the first US
policy on Latin America. The Monroe Doctrine warned European nations
against interfering in the affairs of independent nations in the
Western Hemisphere. In 1904, Roosevelt's Corollary said the US would
act as a "policeman", intervening militarily when US interests were at
risk. After W.W.II, the independent countries of the Western
Hemisphere formed the Organization of American States, a military
alliance to prevent aggression against any American nation. South
America is the fourth largest continent. It ranks fifth in population.
The continent is divided into 12 independent countries and two
political units. The countries consist of Brazil, Columbia, Venezuela,
Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, Guyana,
Surinam, and French Guinea. In the 12 countries of South America,
democracy has slowly been on the rise since 1959. The rise started in
Venezuela and ended in Surinam last year. One by one South America's
countries have turned form dictatorships into democracies where the
voters control the elections.
Even with democracy taking control, the countries still have
many problems. The largest problem is the tradition of corruption of
the political leaders. The corruption has mainly been the use of
bribe-taking and bribe-giving. "By definition, democracy presumes
equal opportunity; bribery and corruption make the playing field
uneven and weakens democracy's foundations." Recently, corruption has
reached into high places in Venezuela and Brazil. President Carlos
Perez (1993) and Fernando Collor de Mello (1992) were forced to resign
when faced with corruption charges.
The large drug trade has also caused problems for the rise of
democracy in South America. Each year, hundreds of tons of Cocaine
feed an illegal US drug market. It is worth an estimated $38 billion a
year. This illegal money has found its way into the pockets of many
people in high places. In Columbia, a major source of illegal drugs
for the US, President Ernesto Samper was accused of taking a $6
million bribe to allow drug trafficking to continue as usual.
Laundered drug money has financed development in many South American
cities, but it has also brought bloodshed.
The large gap between rich and poor of South America has
presented another challenge for democracy. In South America, the rich
keep getting richer and the poor keep getting poorer. But since the
rise of democracy economic conditions have not worsened. Recently, the
poor have been taking their demands for better economic conditions to
the streets. In Argentina, workers have protested the privation
policies of President Carlos Menem. They are demanding job security to
go back to "the good old days" of the Peron era.
The military...
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