Word: caudillo
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...Fujimori's success, however, was based on reclaiming the image of the populist caudillo, or strongman on horseback, just as the continent was ridding itself of the legacy of dictators who had turned disappear into a verb when dealing with their political opponents. He shut down Peru's Congress and judiciary in 1992; he created an "emergency" government that gave him and his spooky security chief (Vladimiro Montesinos, who himself was convicted in 2002 on a variety of corruption and human rights abuse charges) autocratic powers; and he rewrote the constitution to allow himself to be re-elected...
...term limits relaxed by popular vote. Colombia's conservative President, Alvaro Uribe, won't deny that he hopes to engineer a constitutional fix letting him seek a third term when his second mandate ends next year. The trend has democracy watchdogs fretful about a return of the Latin caudillo. (See pictures of Colombia's guerilla army...
...more rambunctious celebration, an actress playing Leticia arrived at the wedding scene in a convertible driven by a Moorish guard (complete with requisite fez). Greeted with fascist salutes and the extravagant leering of a pompous archbishop, the lovely bride was given away by the familiarly paunchy figure of the caudillo himself, "resurrected" for the occasion by a local comedic theater troupe...
...Latin America - may well be the most important. The oil-rich Chavez can throw his multibillion-dollar largesse around the hemisphere, but he can't claim much of a reputation for spreading democratic institutions, and that's an area where the U.S. could build an advantage over the Caracas caudillo. Bush noted this week that too many Latin Americans "have seen little improvement in their daily lives, and this has led some to question the value of democracy." This tour alone can't fix that, of course. But if Bush can help diffuse some of the region's anger directed...
...abroad. Chavez may control the hemisphere's largest oil reserves, but they believe he can't afford to squander a more valuable commodity - his democratic legitimacy, something Castro never had and which gives Chavez the ability to blunt U.S. efforts to cast him as the Caribbean's new communist caudillo...