Editorial of the Razón de Estado program number 255

Democracies today do not die from a coup d'état or a revolution, but from a slow death caused by the suffocation of essential institutions that give them life.

The contamination suffered by justice systems, the weakening of electoral bodies, the corruption of congresses, populism, the erosion of the press, and the authoritarian hijacking of civil liberties by unscrupulous politicians who govern like criminals, constitute the tragic and gradual scenario in which our democracies fade away, in the face of indifference or even complicity from the elites and the absence of citizens.

In Latin America, we are witnessing a brutal attack on open societies and individual sovereignty. Censorship, cultural control, abuse, and imprisonment of dissidents have become the norm. Authoritarianism is the practice. Freedom has become a prisoner, and corruption is the common denominator.

This is the political underdevelopment that prevents Latin America from flourishing and prospering. The criminalization of politics and the delinquent state are now the main actors in the lives of our societies. That is why we remain rich nations full of poor people.

For Latin America, up to this point, politics of the 21st century have been marked by the rise to power of populist charlatans, autocrats, and sociopaths seeking to perpetuate themselves in power. Career criminals. Fanatical despots. They seek easy money and submissive, obedient people.

They use ideology as an excuse to deceive. Some offer the socialist utopia; others claim to be conservatives. Both lie and are a failure because their authoritarianism, corruption, and contempt for the citizenry define them as the same garbage.

History teaches us that wealth creation, development, and well-being only come from freedom, republican democracy, the market, private property, Rule of Law, and the stability offered by coherent public policies and active, responsible, and hardworking citizens.

Although the risks are extraordinary and the threats imminent, despite disinformation and lies, we can and must find truth and common sense, consensus and strength, conviction and commitment to build the free and prosperous nations we deserve.