Latin American leaders look to repeal term limits

MEXICO CITY

Horrified by the excesses of dictatorship, Latin Americans discarded the strongman model at the end of the 20th century and limited politicians’ time in power.

Now a new wave of populist presidents is trying to do away with those limits, arguing that they impede real change. As leaders in country after country move to extend their rule, opponents fearing a return to the “caudillo” era of authoritarian power have done everything to stop them - from throwing eggs to staging coups.

“It’s a new political model of what I call low-intensity dictatorships,” said Manuel Orozco, a Central America analyst at the Washington-based Inter-American Dialogue.

Term limits were the backdrop for a June coup in Honduras, where proponents said they were trying to prevent an illegal attempt by President Manuel Zelaya to extend his time in office. Mr. Zelaya denies any such intention.

Nicaragua joined the fray with a Supreme Court ruling giving President Daniel Ortega the right to seek re-election as many times as he wants. Opponents, calling it an illegal power grab, threw eggs at the judge in charge.

Similar scenarios have played out in Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador and Colombia, where some leaders have made progress on entrenched issues such as poverty or violence but are accused of quashing dissent.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has spent his country’s oil wealth liberally on education, health care and food subsidies for the poor. He also has closed critical media outlets and used a majority in Congress to vastly diminish the powers of opposition mayors and governors.

In December, Venezuelans voted to allow Mr. Chavez, known as “el Comandante,” to seek indefinite re-election.

Mr. Chavez first gained prominence for staging a failed coup in 1992. Far from being appalled at the assault on a 30-year-old democracy, many poor Venezuelans considered the young army lieutenant colonel a hero for trying to overthrow a president accused of stealing millions in public funds.

In decades past, Latin Americans once feared strongmen who emerged from military coups and curtailed human rights and crushed all dissent. Many were from the right. But some leftists also managed to amass great power or ruled for decades, such as Cuba’s Fidel Castro, Peru’s Gen. Juan Velasco and Argentina’s populist general, Juan Peron.

After years of peaceful, democratic transfers of power in most countries, some of that fear has faded. Instead, there is anger over the corruption scandals and ineffectiveness that have marred many fledgling democracies.

Bolivia’s Evo Morales and Ecuador’s Rafael Correa - like Mr. Chavez, leftists popular for their efforts to redistribute wealth and give a voice to the poor - have won referendums to change their constitutions to allow them to seek second terms.

In Colombia, Alvaro Uribe’s supporters don’t want to let go of the conservative president, who is hugely popular for reducing murder and kidnapping rates and crippling leftist rebels. Mr. Uribe won a constitutional change to secure his second term, and now lawmakers have called a referendum asking voters to let him seek a third.

The rise of the “new caudillos” is testament to the failure of some countries to establish strong branches of government that can check executive power, despite decades of democratic rule, Mr. Orozco said.

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