The Americas | The Latinobarómetro poll

The stubborn survival of frustrated democrats

Despite hard times, most Latin Americans are still democrats, but they are dissatisfied with their politics and mistrustful of their institutions—and of the United States

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A BARE majority of Latin Americans are convinced democrats, but they are deeply frustrated by the way their democratic institutions work in practice. Latin Americans are also becoming less pro-American. While most believe the market economy is the only route to prosperity, they are ever more disillusioned with some aspects of free-marketry, such as privatisation. Those are some of the conclusions from the latest Latinobarómetro poll of attitudes in the region, published exclusively by The Economist.

This article appeared in the The Americas section of the print edition under the headline “The stubborn survival of frustrated democrats”

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From the November 1st 2003 edition

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