Ember McMullen, Press Corps 9
CHILEAN CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION, Contemporary Crisis - Dr. Angelo Rivero Santos is no stranger to the intricacies of Latin American politics. Born in Caracas, Venezuela, Dr. Santos originally immigrated to the United States to study mechanical engineering, but he soon found himself enamoured with the world of international diplomacy. This interest in diplomacy eventually led to his appointment as the White House’s Deputy Ambassador to Venezuela, where he represented the interests of his home country in the United States.
Over his lengthy career in international relations, Dr. Santos has become an expert on Latin American politics, and for the past several years he has focused on the communication of his experiences to future diplomats as faculty at the Center for Latin American Studies at Georgetown University. But you don’t have to be a Hoya to learn from Dr. Santos; this Friday, he spoke to the Chilean Constitutional Convention about his visions for the future of Latin American democracy.
“You have a responsibility, your generation has a huge responsibility, you know why? Because we have bought the idea of democracy as the best system to organise a society. In Latin America, we have bought the idea,” Dr. Santos told the delegates.
Yet the protection of democratic ideals is not an easy task, as these delegates have been learning through the drafting of a new Chilean constitution. These ideals are particularly hard to live up to in Latin America, where the diversity of the acting powers, diversity of economic sectors, and diversity of the population represent hundreds of conflicting interests all given equal importance under a democracy. As many Latin American countries, including Chile, recover from post-colonial dictatorships, they are increasingly using the redrafting of national constitutions to protect marginalised groups and democratic ideals.
“So the challenge is what kind of [constitution] we can use to optimise and maximise the interest of the different sectors of the particular population,”Dr. Santos stated. “Does the social contract represent the interest of the majority of the people? That is a key question for us in the politics of Latin America.”
When asked for further advice for drafting the Chilean Constitution by the delegates, Dr. Santos said, “I don't want to take a side, [but] what I can tell you is this. What we have learned in Latin America [is] that the over-concentration of power at the central level…perhaps is not very efficient. We have tried that in the 19th century as central, strong states. Then we went to the other extreme. [We did that] beginning in the 1980s-1990s, when something called the neoliberal process told us, ‘Government is a problem. You need to decentralise.’… So the point is that there's got to be a balance [of centralisation and decentralisation] depending on the local conditions of different countries, where you need a strong state and [an] efficient state, [as well as a] capable state that… satisfies the needs and wants of the majority of the population.”
In the face of widespread social unrest, including the 2019 student protests in Chile, democracy seems to be on the back foot. However, this is not necessarily the case. According to Dr. Santos, if we wish to secure the future of democracy in Latin America, the rights of all people, not just those in power, must be protected, and the government must be strong enough to enforce the laws that protect these rights. This is a delicate balance indeed, and it represents a difficult path forward for the delegates of the Chilean Constitutional Convention. However, Dr. Santos believes these delegates to be up to the task, and he knows that they will do what is right for the people of Chile.