Latin America may be approaching a historic turning point in the areas of political incorporation and labor relations. The levels of economic and social dislocation and political flux in the region are opening up an opportunity for creative, entrepreneurial leaders to change the direction of employment, labor rights, and politics for a new generation. Doing nothing will ensure only that the promising shores of opportunity become the menacing shoals of crisis as the unbending realities of demographics, globalization, and populist opportunism threaten the political and economic fortunes of the region.
About the Authors
Christopher Sabatini
Christopher Sabatini is senior director of policy at the Americas Society and Council of the Americas, and has served as director for Latin America and the Caribbean at the National Endowment for Democracy.
Eric Farnsworth is a Senior Associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a Director of the Venezuelan American Association of the United States. He previously served in the White House and State Department and led the Washington office of the Americas Society/Council of the Americas.
Despite recent progress in the government’s negotiations with rebel groups, Colombia’s problems remain acute: continued violence, growing human rights abuses, severe income inequality, and a depressed economy.
In February 2014, Salvadorans narrowly elected as president a former FMLN guerrilla commander, but he will have to deal with a dire economy and horrific levels of crime.
Brazil did something that few democracies achieve: It convicted a former president of attempting a coup. How did the country’s courts hold would-be autocrat Jair Bolsonaro accountable when so many…
