Global Policy Forum

By Monte Hayes

Latin American democracies are in trouble and losing the support of their citizens because of inequality and extreme poverty, the United Nations said Wednesday in a sweeping report on the region's political health.

"The good news is that in the last 20 years there has been a great leap in the number of democracies in the region," Mark Malloch Brown, head of the United Nations Development Program, said in comments to reporters before delivering a copy of the study to President Alejandro Toledo.

"But we also know that democracy does not enjoy good health, fundamentally because it has not provided benefits in terms of reduction of poverty and inequality."

Dante Caputo, a former Argentine foreign minister who directed the study, said the failure to treat the ills of continued social injustice and extreme poverty could lead "to the slow death of democracy" in the region and encourage the return of authoritarian governments.

The 250-page study is the result of three years of research involving interviews with 231 opinion leaders, including former and current presidents in Latin America.

The report also includes results of public opinion surveys of nearly 20,000 people in 18 Latin American countries.

"We hope that this report will serve as a lever for public debate throughout the region and lead to a renovation of democracy," Malloch Brown said.

The study spells out the severe challenges that have led to a deep sense of popular dissatisfaction with Latin America's democratically chosen leaders. It said that slow economic growth, profound inequalities and deepening poverty are producing popular unrest and undermining confidence in electoral democracy.

"The report notes that half of Latin Americans have little faith in democracy due to their frustration," Malloch Brown said.

The study says one sign that democracy is losing strength is that since 2000, four elected presidents in the 18 countries surveyed were forced to step down before the end of their terms after steep drops in public support.

In Peru, Toledo faced similar pressure after his support fell to 7 percent in polls in February, half way through his five-year term. Peruvians were unhappy with Toledo over his failure to keep promises to create hundreds of thousands of jobs in a country were only 25 percent of the work force is employed full time.

Peru's economy is expected to grow 4 percent in 2004, on par with last year. But most of the growth has come from mining and oil — industries that do not produce many jobs — and gains have not trickled down to most Peruvians.

Surveys made in 2002 for the study show that 56.3 percent of Latin Americans believe economic development is more important than democracy and that 54.7 percent would support an authoritarian government if it resolved their problems.