The British magazine The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), in its most recent reportpositions Nicaragua as a dictatorial regime and ranks it 143rd worldwide in terms of the democracy index.
The dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, once again, positions the Nicaraguan territory as the second least democratic country in Latin America, being surpassed only by Venezuela, which reached position 147.
The study Frontline Democracy and the Battle for Ukraine of the British firm, which evaluated the political conditions of 167 countries, placed Nicaragua within the classification of authoritarian regimes with a score of 2.50 out of 10 possible.
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Venezuela is the country that ranks first in Latin America as the most undemocratic nation. In third place, below Nicaragua, Cuba is located in position 139 and Haiti follows in position 135.
According to the indicators used for this study, the four countries received a score of 0.0 points in the pluralism and electoral participation section, confirming the widespread perception that the governments of Nicaragua, Cuba, Venezuela, and Haiti are incapable of holding free elections. .
In addition, El Salvador is one of the countries in the region that has reflected a drop in the democracy index. With a score of 5.06 out of 10 possible, it reached 93rd place and is positioned as a hybrid regime.
For its part, Costa Rica is among the most democratic countries worldwide. The ranking places the neighboring country in 17th place with a score of 8.29, which elevates it as the second Central American nation that lives in full democracy in Latin America, surpassed only by Uruguay, which reached first place in the region.
«Latin America is home to three authoritarian regimes: Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela. There is a risk that the list of autocracies in the region will grow, as several countries are going through a process of democratic regression. The most prominent example is El Salvador, which recorded the second steepest decline in score, after Haiti, in 2022,” the report noted.
He highlighted that “Central America and the Caribbean has registered a steady decline in its score since 2018, due in large part to events in Mexico and Nicaragua, with the latter becoming an autocracy in 2018 and the former being demoted to a regime.” hybrid in 2021.”
The British firm’s document also highlighted that Latin America is experiencing its seventh consecutive year of decline in 2022. The region’s average score “fell to 5.79, below 5.83 in 2021. The decrease in the region’s overall score occurs at despite a widespread increase in scores related to the lifting of pandemic-related restrictions that civil liberties were affected; however, these improvements are offset by a sharp deterioration in scores in a handful of countries in 2022.”
He adds that 45% of the Latin American population lives in a country that is a hybrid or authoritarian regime and only 4% lives in full democracy.
