{"id":49677,"date":"2025-08-02T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-02T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/latinoamerica21.com\/?p=49677"},"modified":"2025-08-01T10:39:48","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T13:39:48","slug":"of-worn-out-speeches-and-unauthorized-outlets-reinventing-the-wheel-of-democracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/latinoamerica21.com\/en\/of-worn-out-speeches-and-unauthorized-outlets-reinventing-the-wheel-of-democracy\/","title":{"rendered":"Of worn-out speeches and unauthorized outlets: Reinventing the wheel of democracy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The recent \u201cDemocracy Always\u201d high-level summit held in Santiago, Chile, brought together a handful of Latin American left-wing presidents along with the Spanish prime minister, Pedro S\u00e1nchez. Marketed as a forum to defend democracy, promote multilateralism, and fight disinformation, the event also offered a revealing snapshot of how Spain\u2019s ruling leadership is using Latin America as an alternative stage to relaunch political discourses that no longer resonate at home. Has Latin America become the outlet <\/em>store of Spanish politics?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pedro S\u00e1nchez, the only European leader in attendance, landed in Chile amid a political storm back in Spain. The country is on fire: corruption scandals reaching the heart of his government, a reinvigorated opposition, and a public increasingly skeptical of the executive\u2019s moralizing rhetoric. In this context, S\u00e1nchez\u2019s presence in South America can hardly be seen as a selfless diplomatic gesture. It is more accurately understood as a political maneuver\u2014an attempt to project international leadership while his domestic authority crumbles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moral authority<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Spain\u2019s foreign policy toward Latin America has long been ambivalent\u2014sometimes paternalistic, sometimes absent, and occasionally, as now, plainly instrumental. S\u00e1nchez did not come to listen\u2014he came to instruct. In his speech, he called for an \u201coffensive\u201d against what he labeled the \u201creactionary international,\u201d a coalition of far-right forces attacking democratic values on both sides of the Atlantic. The problem isn\u2019t the diagnosis. It\u2019s the context: What moral authority does a scandal-plagued prime minister truly have to lecture others on democratic ethics?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joining him in the group photo were other leaders whose legitimacy is also under scrutiny. Luiz In\u00e1cio Lula da Silva, president of Brazil, arrived in high spirits following what appears to be a diplomatic win: recent U.S. trade actions against Brazil\u2014triggered by the trial of Jair Bolsonaro\u2014have revived his popularity. But Lula is no political newcomer<\/a>, nor an untouchable symbol. His return to power has been both celebrated and questioned. His alliance with S\u00e1nchez seems driven more by political shielding than by a shared vision for the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Colombian president Gustavo Petro is arguably the group\u2019s most problematic figure. His administration is beset by scandals of all kinds<\/a>, his coalition has fractured, and his confrontational style has only deepened political polarization, stalling any meaningful reform. Petro today is neither a reliable domestic leader nor a trustworthy international partner. His presence at the summit, far from strengthening its message, weakens it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do countries gain?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Uruguay\u2019s president Yamand\u00fa Orsi, the most recently elected <\/a>of the group, was also the most cautious. His participation seemed more like a diplomatic courtesy than a full ideological alignment. Still, his presence raises questions: What does Uruguay gain by aligning with a bloc seemingly more focused on rhetoric than on results?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The host, Gabriel Boric, closes the picture with a paradox. Once a symbol of renewal, he now exits office with low approval ratings and a resounding defeat of his party <\/a>in Chile\u2019s left-wing primaries. The victory of Jeannette Jara, the Communist Party\u2019s candidate, marks a shift that leaves Boric in an awkward position\u2014as organizer of a summit that no longer represents even the future of his own political camp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDemocracy Always\u201d was presented as an effort to build a narrative alternative to the rise of the far right. But in practice, it functioned more like a self-affirmation club for embattled leaders. The rhetoric of democratic defense loses its punch<\/a> when it comes from those who struggle to uphold it at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spain, in particular, should reflect on how it uses Latin America as a political repositioning platform. It\u2019s not the first time this has happened, but rarely has it been so obvious. Rather than building relationships rooted in mutual respect and effective cooperation, Spain continues to push an ideological export model that has little to do with the region\u2019s actual needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Listen more, preach less<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Politics is not a dumping ground for narratives that no longer sell at home. Nor is it a space reserved only for like-minded voices. That\u2019s one reason why \u201cDemocracy Always\u201d sparked high-level political resistance in some quarters. Latin America does not need sermons\u2014it needs partners. If Spain\u2019s prime minister hopes to play a relevant role in the region, he must abandon the temptation of moral superiority and foster a genuine, diverse dialogue that brings different actors to the table. In short: listen more, preach less.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The summit in Chile left behind a clear image: a group of leaders who, rather than building the future, seem stuck clinging to the past\u2014the past of the first progressive wave, when lofty speeches inflated by high commodity prices were enough to govern. But those days are long gone, and politics, like history, has little patience for those who insist on recycling worn-out formulas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*Machine translation, proofread by Ricardo Aceves.<\/sup><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chile welcomed progressive presidents, including Spain\u2019s Pedro S\u00e1nchez, under the banner Democracy Always. But is that message consistent with what\u2019s actually happening within each of their countries?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":292,"featured_media":49670,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16729,16844],"tags":[17180],"gps":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-49677","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politica-en","8":"category-democracia-en","9":"tag-ideas"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinoamerica21.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinoamerica21.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinoamerica21.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinoamerica21.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/292"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinoamerica21.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49677"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/latinoamerica21.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49677\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinoamerica21.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinoamerica21.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinoamerica21.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinoamerica21.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49677"},{"taxonomy":"gps","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinoamerica21.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/gps?post=49677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}