Political Liberties in Central America
By: Felix Wiebrecht
Oct 18, 2022
Democracies not only conduct regular free and fair elections but also guarantee freedoms of association and expression. This week’s graph shows to what extent such political liberties are upheld in El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Panama from 2011 to 2021.
Panama stands out. It has resisted the trend of autocratization and retained high scores on the political liberties index, while forming an alliance with Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic to safeguard democracy in Central America. In El Salvador, political liberties are now deteriorating under Bukele’s government. Recently, his administration has extended the state of emergency and limited journalists’ freedom of reporting. In Nicaragua political liberties have been almost completely eradicated during the last decade. Measures taken by Ortega include the closure of media outlets, the imprisonment of government critics, as well as attacks on academic freedom.
