Authoritarianism "on the march"

A college buddy at the Heritage Foundation (see, progressive bloggers do have conservative friends) has an op-ed out in American Thinker with a good reminder that dictators and authoritarianism aren't merely in central asian "Stans" but are floating around in our very own hemisphere.

Since the 18th and 19th centuries, military strongmen, also known as caudillos, have been ruling many parts of Latin America with mostly mixed results. Among the more prominent include Mexico's Santa Anna, Guatemala's Jose Rafael Carrera and Venezuela's Jose Tadeos Managas.

More contemporary caudillos include Dominican Republic's Rafael Trujillo. His 30-plus year tenure was among the bloodiest. Or consider the Somoza dynasty in Nicaragua. And of course no list of tyrannical caudillos is complete without mentioning Cuba's maximum leader, Fidel Castro, and, now, brother Raul.

At best, a couple of these caudillos could be credited with bringing about modest reforms to improve living conditions while encouraging modernization. But at worst, these regimes reflect an assault on democracy, civil liberties and humanity. The few benefited at the expense of the many. History tells us of the rampant abuse, cronyism and corruption that followed caudillos' promises of a better life and a stronger nation.

Overall this piece is a good reminder that many of the people in our own "sphere of influence" are not particularly free- which is good to think about when we try to lean hard on the Chinese about its aid the Burmese junta.

I take issue with the last sentence of the piece: And we must remain vigilant when authoritarianism is on the march, particularly in our own hemisphere.

I think that it's somewhat misleading to state that authoritarianism is "on the march," which implies that it's a growing force in South and Central America. I think that in general, many of these states are slowly shaking off centuries of shackles. Mexico, with the election of Vincente Fox in 1995, shook off decades of one-party rule. Declining oil prices have made it more difficult for Chavez to support the "bolivarian revolution" both inside and outside Venezuela. Many of the other caudillos are aging, and only time will tell if democratic forces can stir inside the ossified politics of Cuba and the DR. Authoritarianism is still alive and kicking in our hemisphere, but it appears that it's more likely reeling backward than on the march.

*Edit: The post previously stated that voters rejected Chavez's bid for an extension of term limits. They initially did, but voted him an extension in February.