Why are so many Latin American and Caribbean politicians assassination targets?

Peter Scott · Dec 19, 2023

A presidential candidate in Ecuador is gunned down days before the election. The president of Haiti is shot to death and his wife is seriously wounded when assassins storm their home.

High-ranking political leaders survive violent attacks in Argentina, Colombia, Brazil and Venezuela.

Running for public office in much of Latin America and the Caribbean can literally be a matter of life and death.

“Latin America’s democracies are quite new and fragile, and political violence represents an enormous threat,” said Benjamin Gedan, director of the Latin America Program at the Wilson Center, a Washington-based think tank.

6 Colombians arrested in assassination of Ecuadorian presidential candidate

Why is there so much political violence in Latin America?
Political violence in Mexico and other Latin American countries can often be traced to high levels of polarization, extreme insecurity and organized crime, Gedan said.

Organized criminal groups typically exert control through corruption. “They are able to call up state institutions by buying off police chiefs and general and even the president,” Gedan said. “But they also resort to violence when necessary.”

Haitian President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated after gunmen stormed into his bedroom in Port-au-Prince in 2021. Authorities said dozens of people were involved in the killing, which they have described as a conspiracy involving Haitian officials and Colombian mercenaries.

Given the fragile nature of many Latin America’s democracies, any act of political violence rightfully provokes anxiety because it discourages potential leaders from getting involved in politics and undermines the authority of those who are elected, Gedan said.

“There’s a crisis of representation in Latin America, a sense that political elites simply don’t represent the majority of voters,” Gedan said. “Anytime an election process is not in the hands of voters, it undermines the legitimacy of a leader.”

There’s also the risk that political violence will become so normalized that it will be used not only by organized crime figures but by politicians against their rivals, Gedan said.

“It really is corrosive to democracy in this region,” he said.

Michael Collins covers the White House. Follow him on Twitter @mcollinsNEWS.

Contributing: The Associated Press

Source: Why are so many Latin American and Caribbean politicians assassination targets?

Kara · May 23, 2024

Simple answer, CIA

AYH3550 · Sep 25, 2024

Not sure if this reason covers all Latin American countries but if you look at the book Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent by Eduardo Galeano it usually has to do with the exploitation of these countries in order to feed and maintain the economies of certain Western countries because their mostly capitalist economic systems cannot function without a resource being taken advantage of and plundered. That's why many big companies like to send jobs offshore, to exploit the workers of countries who cannot and will not protect them from wage theft, in order to make a profit. This is also why when Venezuela tried to keep the U.S. away from its oil, the U.S. made sure to shift the power away from Venezuelan interest to be more aligned with U.S. and Western interest.

This pattern spans pretty far back, even as far back as when many of these Latin American countries were under monarchical rule (although the variant of exploitation was just a little bit different).

That's why it should be of no surprise that, under all this systematic national strain, crime and corruption are far more frequent.

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Why are so many Latin American and Caribbean politicians assassination targets?

Peter Scott Experienced Member Active Member

Kara Experienced Member Active Member

AYH3550 Member Forum Member

7 members have read this thread this month

German SS-Kaliert - Subzero LP (Germany) (2011)

German Chronical Diarrhoea - Abstract Carnage EP (Germany) (1989)

Finnish Midnight Crisis - Demo (Germany) (2012)

Finnish Midnight Crisis - Midnight Crisis EP (Germany) (2014)

German F.F.F. - 6-Song Studio Demo (Germany) (1987)

German Bolzenschuss - Demo (Germany) (2019)

Audio Kollaps & Wolfbrigade - Split 7'' (Germany & Sweden) (2000)

German HASS AUF ALLES - HASS AUF ALLES Ep (Germany) (2016)