Challenges to strengthen democracy in Latin America during the pandemic, main theme on third day of 24th CAF Conference

Latin American countries has had the longest lockdowns and social emergencies during the COVID-19 pandemic, due to pre-existing social, economic and political conditions, uncertainty and inexperience in handling of the epidemic. This was the diagnosis made by experts who participated in the third day of the 24th Annual CAF Conference.

“COVID-19 has impacted election dates in 12 countries and we will have 9 more elections in the next 25 months, many of which are likely to take place during the pandemic. Weak voting mechanisms such as mail voting, extended election day and mistrust in electoral authorities can impact voter turnout, as was recently the case in Dominican Republic, with 14 percent,” said Kevin Casas Zamora, secretary general of International IDEA, and former second vice president of Costa Rica.

The panel: Politics in times of pandemic: The impact on democracy and the rule of law in Latin America analyzed the cases of Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Venezuela. “In Brazil, we see a divided opposition that has failed to counterbalance President Bolsonaro despite his handling of the pandemic, especially in the area of healthcare,” noted Monica de Bolle, a senior member of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, and senior fellow at Johns Hopkins SAIS.

In addition, Lucia Dammert, professor of International Relations at the University of Santiago de Chile, said that one issue in her country that could occur in the rest of the region is the return of street protests. “Protests are likely to increase, not in number of people, but in number of occurrences, because of social effects; for example, women have been left out of the labor market as they were forced to stay home and care for their families. Protests are necessary, but they must be peaceful. We need to find the formula so these do not end up in violence,” she added.

The 24th Annual CAF Conference , organized by the Inter-American Dialogue, the Organization of American States (OAS) and CAF, ended with the panel:

The U.S. presidential election: Implications for Latin America and the Caribbean, where Julissa Reynoso, partner at Winston and Strawn, former United States ambassador to Uruguay and Deputy Under Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs; with Roger Noriega, visiting member of the American Enterprise Institute; former Under Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs and U.S. Ambassador to the OAS, addressed issues such as migration, trade, climate change, and China’s effect on global geopolitics, depending on who wins the election in the United States.

Relive the best of today’s session and see the panelists of upcoming sessions here.