When I was young, my Mother used to tell me about life in Panama years ago and she would explain to me that Latin America was different then.  She told me “in the USA we have elections while in Latin America, we have revolutions!”  Well, while that was a little simplistic and a little to broad a brush stroke, there was some  fact in that statement.  Much has changed since the 50’s and 60’s but I found this article of interest by Michael Shifter from the Western Hemisphere Security Analysis Center.  It plays into where you might want to invest in Latin America and where you might not want to.

Can Coups Still Take Place in Latin America?

By Michael Shifter
Western Hemisphere Security Analysis Center, April 20, 2011

It has been two decades since the military forcibly ousted an elected, civilian government in Latin America and the Caribbean and actually assumed and exercised full authority.  Such a traditional coup scenario took place in Haiti in 1991; prior to that, one would have to go back to Argentina in 1976.   By any historical measure that is an impressive stretch of time that reflects well on the region’s democratic progress.

Yet, though surely significant, the fact that a military regime is not in control anywhere in the region today is hardly cause for celebration.   Elections are, happily, routine, and have become the only acceptable way of achieving legitimacy.   But the last two decades have witnessed a number of cases of governments whose legal terms were interrupted, serious aberrations in democratic rule, and significant weakening of fundamental institutions. 

 The article as it appeared in The Inter-American Dialogue can be read here