Mexico fell three positions in the study on democracy carried out by the British group The Economist.
El País went from position 86 to 89. The decline, however, was not as pronounced as that registered last year, when it lost 14 places and went from the block of nations of “deficient democracy” to that of “hybrid regimes”.
The study, which measures 167 countries, is based on five categories: electoral processes and pluralism, government functioning, political participation, political culture and civil liberties.
“Mexico is going through a process of democratic regression under President Andrés Manuel López Obrador,” the report highlights.
It adds that the President has used his position to attack his opponents, including the electoral authorities, and that he seeks, through a reform, to reduce their financing and restrict their supervisory powers, putting electoral integrity at risk.
“Media freedom is also seriously threatened: at least 13 journalists were killed in 2022 and Mexican intelligence services routinely spy on journalists and activists,” it says.
It also says that the Government intends to expand the role of the Armed Forces in the economy and in public security, including giving it control of the National Guard until 2028.
“López Obrador’s attacks on democratic checks and balances, as well as the growing role of the Armed Forces in the economy and security led to a further downgrade in Mexico’s overall score in 2022, after a decline in 2021” , underline.
The countries that drove Latin America’s decline in the index, noted The Economist, were Haiti, El Salvador and Mexico.
El Salvador lost 14 positions, going to position 93, while Peru, after falling four positions, was located in 75, and went from the group of “deficient democracy” to that of “hybrid regimes”.
In the block of “authoritarian countries” Cuba remained, despite the fact that it advanced three positions to 139; Nicaragua, which lost 3 and was ranked 143, and Venezuela, which advanced four places to 147.
Chile, meanwhile, rose 6 places to 19 and returned to the “full democracy” bloc, from which it had left in 2021.
Norway repeats as number one on the list, and Afghanistan, like last year, closes the ranking.
As in 2021, less than half of the world’s population lived in a democracy and only 8 percent in “full democracy,” according to the report.
