2 days ago
- Politics
- Wall Street Journal
A Supreme Court Coup d'Etat in Brazil
Liberty in the Americas faces a degree of peril not seen since the Cold War. The biggest risk isn't, as it was in the 1970s and '80s, the sudden seizure of power by the military. Twenty-first century strongmen are copying Hugo Chávez, who consolidated his rule by seizing control of democratic institutions while he was popular and then put his opponents in jail or drove them into exile.
El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele has fashioned his own version of chavismo. He fired and replaced all members of the country's highest constitutional court in 2021. Due process, free speech and freedom of assembly are no more. Mr. Bukele now controls the electoral tribunal. In 2024 it certified congressional elections, although they were marred by irregularities and lacked transparency. Last month Congress, under a long shadow of doubt about its legitimacy, changed the constitution to allow indefinite presidential re-election. RIP Salvadoran democracy.
