The Coup Temptation in Latin America

November 26, 2019

At first glance, the fall of Bolivia’s president, Evo Morales, this month may appear to be a victory for  democracy. After all, his populist government had grown increasingly undemocratic. Having already served three terms, Mr. Morales called a referendum in 2016 seeking to eliminate the Constitution’s term limits. When Bolivians voted the proposal down, the Constitutional Court, packed with Morales loyalists, allowed him to run anyway — on the absurd ground that term limits violated his “human right” to run for office.

María Victoria Murillo
Columbia University

Levitsky Steven
Harvard University

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