Latin American press review

The Guardian Sam Jones Friday April 18, 2003

The biggest celebration of the Catholic calendar is under way, but Latin America's papers chose to ponder the continent's political calvary rather than debate the possibility of resurrection.

Venezuela's press marked the first anniversary of April 11 - the day on which soldiers and paramilitaries opened fire on a crowd, killing 17 unarmed protesters - with characteristic bitterness. "That day, for better or for worse, changed everything," wrote Gustavo Arnstein in El Mundo. Venezuela's robust democracy had wilted and the country had been left dangerously polarised. "[Our] society was split in two and its opposing heads are squabbling endlessly over the same atrophying body."

Arnstein's pessimism was echoed in an editorial in El Nacional. "Venezuela is sliding down the scale of countries that value human rights," said the paper, poring over a US state department report on extrajudicial torture and murder in Venezuela. The survey recognised that the president, Hugo Chavez, had been democratically elected, but expressed fears about the behaviour of the government and its security forces. "A report like this can not go unremarked," said El Nacional, apparently grateful to see the US taking a peek into its back yard. "It serves as a diagnosis of our problems and must be considered as such."

Things looked only a little brighter for the Peruvian president, Alejandro Toledo. El Comercio reported that Mr Toledo is under fire for allegedly trying to buy a television channel to guarantee sympathetic coverage. Invoking a timely image, La Republica's veteran commentator, Mirko Lauer, wondered whether Mr Toledo would survive another scandal. "He has already embarked on his via crucis ," said Lauer. "We'll soon see if it leads to his crucifixion, and, more importantly, to his rebirth." A tricky task, thought Lauer - "the media no longer believe in Toledo's democratic Teflon".

However, one Latin American politician's armour remained miraculously intact. The Buenos Aires daily La Nacion brought news that Carlos Menem, the undisputed comeback kid of Argentinian politics, was leading the polls in the run up to the country's presidential election. Attributing the results to widespread apathy, Pagina 12 could only laugh at the situation. Its front-page cartoon showed an anxious middle-aged couple confiding in a doctor that their drive has gone. "Sex drive?" asks the doctor. "No," they reply. "Electoral."