From The Economist, polls indicate that Latin Americans aren't so enthusiastic with the "democracy" model:
Support for democracy is lower in a dozen countries today than in 1996 (see charts 1 and 2). It is worryingly low in Peru, parts of Central America and Paraguay (the only country with a strong authoritarian streak). In Brazil, some of the shine brought by the election of Lula da Silva in 2002 appears to have been removed by a recent corruption scandal involving his party. On the other hand, support for democracy is very high in Venezuela, perhaps because both supporters and opponents of Hugo Chávez, the socialist president, claim it as their banner. It is high, too, in two small countries, Uruguay and Costa Rica, which many political scientists say are the region's only “consolidated” (ie, fully fledged) democracies. It is rising in Chile (which many would say now qualifies for the “consolidated” tag) and in Mexico. But only in Uruguay and Venezuela are a majority of respondents satisfied with the working of democracy (see chart 3).
Nevertheless,
the poll suggests a growing resilience in Latin American democracy.
Some 62% say that in no circumstances would they support a military
coup (though only 51% in Ecuador, 49% in Peru, and 31% in Paraguay).
And 70% agree with the Churchillian notion that whatever its problems,
democracy is the least bad system of government.
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