Democracy In South America :: essays research papers

southern America is a land of different cultures and has a history of as m both different types of government, mostly dictatorships. Most of South America win independence from Spain and Portugal between 1810 and 1824. In 1823, death chair James Monroe enunciated the first US policy on Latin America. The Monroe Doctrine warned European nations against interfering in the affairs of independent nations in the Western Hemisphere. In 1904, Roosevelts Corollary said the US would act as a policeman, intervening militarily when US interests were at risk. After W.W.II, the independent countries of the Western Hemisphere formed the establishment of American States, a military alliance to prevent aggression against any American nation. South America is the fourth largest uncorrupted. It ranks fifth in population. The continent is divided into 12 independent countries and twopolitical units. The countries consist of Brazil, Columbia, Venezuela,Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, Parag uay, Uruguay, Guyana,Surinam, and French Guinea. In the 12 countries of South America, democracy has slowly been on the start since 1959. The turn started inVenezuela and ended in Surinam last year. One by one South Americascountries have turned form dictatorships into democracies where the voters control the elections. take down with democracy taking control, the countries still have many problems. The largest problem is the tradition of corruption of the political leaders. The corruption has mainly been the use of bribe-taking and bribe-giving. By definition, democracy presumes equal opportunity bribery and corruption make the playing field of operation uneven and weakens democracys foundations. Recently, corruption has reached into high places in Venezuela and Brazil. President Carlos Perez (1993) and Fernando Collor de Mello (1992) were forced to put forward when faced with corruption charges.The large drug trade has also caused problems for the rise ofdemocracy in South Am erica. Each year, hundreds of tons of Cocaine persist an illegal US drug market. It is worth an estimated $38 billion a year. This illegal money has found its way into the pockets of many people in high places. In Columbia, a major source of illegal drugs for the US, President Ernesto Samper was accused of taking a $6 million bribe to result drug trafficking to continue as usual. Laundered drug money has financed development in many South American cities, but it has also brought bloodshed.The large scatter between rich and poor of South America has presented another altercate for democracy. In South America, the rich asseverate getting richer and the poor keep getting poorer.