Over recent years, an erosion of democracy escalated across Central America, with serious setbacks arising in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras alongside Nicaragua's entrenched dictatorship. These circumstances are widely acknowledged as problematic by international observers, with implications for security and development matters that extend well beyond the immediate region. The CISSM Global Forum on April 4, 2024, presented a compelling panel discussion on the topic featuring the perspectives of civil society leaders from the four countries. This special event and the involvement of the panelists were organized in conjunction with the MPP capstone project of Carmen Chamorro (‘24) about “Civil Society Strategies to Counteract State-based Disinformation and Misinformation in Central America.”
The panelists illuminated the alarming circumstances and shared insights on complex challenges of defending democracy, human rights, and transparency in their respective countries and across the region. A central theme was the vital need for civic engagement and collective action to press for protection of fundamental principles and combat authoritarian inclinations. In the process, the panelists were incisive in pinpointing reasons why activism is hardly straightforward and civil society must be savvy, strategic, and resolute.
Alejandro Manzur, Coordinator of the Central American Civic Action Platform based in El Salvador, emphasized the dilemma that activism can pose amid the tenuous conditions of a fragile democracy. Emergent issues about the erosion of due process rights and the extended exception regime have offset the progress achieved in reducing homicide rates under the current administration of President Nayib Bukele. Yet Manzur remarked how El Salvadorans tend to prioritize stability, security, and survival over democracy. This balance of preferences reduces citizens’ appetite for supporting civil society efforts to promote democracy, at least for now.
Andrea Reyes, Executive Director of Period Guatemala, revisited the 2015 protests leading to the resignation of former President Otto Pérez and Vice President Roxana Baldetti. She observed that Guatemalans remained skeptical about subsequent governments, aware that a change of leadership does not necessarily translate to improvements. Her optimism about progress and prospects is encouraged, however, by legal measures to hold Pérez and Baldetti accountable, as well as sustained mobilization against elite political control and corruption. In 2023, anti-corruption activist Bernardo Arévalo won the presidency as the leader of Movimiento Semilla, a new party launched during 2017 in the wake of the protests. The panelists commented that Arévalo’s victory sparks hope across the region as a striking signal of public desire to clean up politics and break down enduring barriers of participation and representation.
Juan Carlos Aguilar, Director of the Association for a More Just Society in Honduras, spoke passionately about how democracy in the region is often unreliable and cosmetic. He cautioned that although the primary path to office still relies on the democratic means of elections, those elected are prone to seek to concentrate power and manipulate institutions at will. He added that another worrisome dimension of the equation is exploiting populism to reinforce the durability of regimes with authoritarian features and enable their projects aimed at preservation of control over the long run. Therefore, the existence of processes that appear democratic, on the surface, is insufficient. Within the context, civil society has an essential role in demanding that democratic values are upheld and democratic institutions are bolstered to become more robust – in the public interest.
Maria Lizano, Political Secretary of Construimos Nicaragua, stressed the severity of ongoing human rights violations under the Ortega regime, which constrain the ability of civil society to operate without repercussions. In the process, she labeled El Salvador as another authoritarian regime, different in nature to the one in Nicaragua, but sharing the basic feature of threatening the life and freedom of anyone who expresses public opposition. Despite the risks, Lizano was forceful in vocalizing the importance of grassroots and resistance movements in challenging authoritarians.
Contemplating the future, the panelists concluded that the path to democratic renewal in Central America is uncertain – and the work of civil society remains essential. Newly ascendant political parties such as Movimiento Semilla in Guatemala and Libre in Honduras made promises at the time of elections about a departure from a history of elite pacts and corruption. An open question is whether these parties will deliver on what they promised, or instead lose momentum, and even worse fall into the bad habits of predecessors that corrode democracy. The resilience and determination of the panelists and their civil society colleagues in the face of adversity will continue to be integral in rallying the populations of Central America and other key stakeholders, to insist on higher standards in politics conducive to a better quality of life.
