The dismissal of Fernando Lugo and Dilma Rousseff. A comparison of both democratic crises from the work of regional organizations.

Abstract

This article describes two cases of democratic crisis in Latin America, the impeachments of Presidents Fernando Lugo in Paraguay (2012), and Dilma Rousseff in Brazil (2016). With respect to both crises, the internal processes that triggered them are compared, and it is pointed out that democratic protection mechanisms were implemented by regional organizations and what factors influenced the implementation of said mechanisms. Although with particular nuances, both crises were internal factors that led to the breakdown of government alliances and the consequent formation of legislative majorities with the intention of removing the presidents. While in the Paraguayan case the mechanisms of democratic protection were applied demonstrating a convergence in the action of the Common Market of the South (MERCOSUR) and the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), but not the Organization of American States (OAS), in the case of Brazil, where the same regional organizations were competent, the mechanisms were not activated except for some actions corresponding to the activation phase. The asymmetries of power within the framework of regional organizations and the different regional contexts are factors that have a determining influence on the application or not of democratic protection mechanisms in each particular case.