Public support for presidential life terms, whether on the right (Colombia) or the left (Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Nicaragua) is beginning to run its course in Latin America. Not because of constitutional constraints.  Pliant congresses and courts amend constitutions for political or monetary gain to satisfy the megalomania of presidents who believe themselves indispensable.  But growing numbers of their citizens are beginning to understand that presidential perpetuation harms key principles of democratic governance:  the alternation of power, and the unthreatened existence of a viable, balancing opposition that functions within the judicial restraint of civil society.

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“Fuera Brasilero!” (“Out with the Brazilians!”) is the rallying cry of native Paraguayans against the 500,000 Brasiguayos (Brazilian-Paraguayans) who own and control modern and world-competitive agribusinesses in eastern Paraguay (Brasiguaya).

Inspired by President Fernando Lugo’s slogan, “Paraguay belongs to Paraguay,” Paraguay’s Landless Movement and members of agricultural cooperatives are pushing the Brasiguayos back to Brazil, after being in Paraguay since the 1960s.  Lost in the confrontations and accusations is the fact the Brasiguayos contribute 30% of Paraguay’s GDP and own 80% of soy cultivation, Paraguay’s major agricultural export.

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On his way to the House of Pizarro (Perú’s Presidential Palace) Ollanta Humala seems to have converted to Socialismo à la Lula.  On the same path Keiko Fujimori apologized for the crimes of her father’s dictatorship (she called it authoritarian government).  On 5 June Peruvians will decide which conversion is less doubtful, or for some, more credible.  But critical doubts remain as to how either Humala or Keiko will govern Perú, where there has been admirable progress, alongside the perpetuation of profound structural deficiencies, economic polarization, and advancement inequality.

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