At that time, dictatorships or authoritarian governments still prevailed over the truly democratic ones, nevertheless, it can be said that those social battles led to a trail of democratic governments, of which we were all proud. That state of democratic ideal however was accredited as such by the fact that free elections were held.

It can be said that the changes occurring in most countries regarding the conflict situations that preceded the democratic governments, were due to the fact that the national forces (internal) agreed to a negotiation process that culminated in the organisation of electoral processes. It is necessary to reflect on this since in some instances, that process led to the collapse of a dictatorship, as in the case of Haiti, while governmental repression was brought to an end in others like Brazil, or an armed movement was halted, as in Central America. However, they all agreed to take steps to promote democracy together with social and economic development.

Today, the continent has been thrown into confusion since there are movements being developed in each region that are inclined toward political instability, given the questioning of current institutions and mainly the demands on governments by broad sectors of the population. In some sectors, it may be that the oil policy is at the centre of the demands being made, in others social debt, in others opposition to the signing of free trade agreements, in others it is the government who radicalises changes, while the opposition objects. In another very specific case, the population is mobilised to defend immigrants. In short, the region is once again in turmoil.

It all seems to indicate that we are staying behind in compliance with agreements, so instead of prioritising mechanisms for control or intervention in defence of democracy, the priority action would be to return to development commitments, since in each country, when social advancement is placed on the scales with the politician, the latter undoubtedly exceeds the former.

Democracies are exhausted in terms of the commitment to offer improved political participation and quality citizenship that would help overcome the effects of inequality and poverty.

Thus in recent years, we have been faced with more social problems that stem from the underdevelopment of nations than from ideological differences as something in itself. Although such differences do in fact exist, they are not priorities on the agendas of our societies.

Finally, we have received studies on “Democracy in Latin America”, which underscore a series of elements that are imperative for strengthening the Region’s political system, but they all concur on the need to adopt commitments bearing in mind social development. The report expresses the urgency of assuming such commitments since those who could support non-democratic solutions find themselves in the sectors most affected by poverty. "Non-democratic individuals belong in general to less educated groups, who were socialised essentially during authoritarian times, have low expectations of social mobility and great mistrust of democratic institutions and politicians".

Let’s revive the dialogue on social development and democracy so that we can overcome poverty and avoid authoritarianism.

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Dr. Rubén Silié Valdez is the Secretary General of the Association of Caribbean States. The views expressed are not necessarily the official views of the ACS. Feedback can be sent to: mail@acs-aec.org