The protests are getting bigger, the violence more bloody and the demands for change more adamant than ever. Governments and political structures are under fire across Latin America, and politicians are running scared.
A longtime dream of a prosperous and economically stable Latin America has all but disappeared as social upheaval spreads on a massive scale rarely witnessed in the hemisphere.
The sense of anger and frustration being expressed in the streets has reached dangerous levels, political analysts across the region agree. Latin Americans are making clear that they will no longer tolerate the insecurity, corruption and economic mismanagement that seem to have accompanied the region's two-decade transformation from authoritarian rule to democracy.
Much of that transformation was driven by pressure from Washington, and the United States is increasingly being blamed for the failure of new democracies and economic models to deliver what Latin Americans feel they were promised, observers interviewed around the region said.
"I believe there is a serious underassessment by the government in Washington of the extent of the Latin American problem," said Benjamin Angel Bogado, a Harvard-trained political scientist in Paraguay.
"It is no longer just an economic problem. It is more along the lines of a social crisis, where systems are breaking down and people are becoming more and more disenchanted with the democratic model," he said.
Popular frustrations have grown to the point that "nobody knows how to react rationally anymore, only irrationally."
Latin Americans are questioning whether they truly have benefited from years of painful "neoliberal" economic reforms -- many of which were implemented under heavy pressure from the U.S. government and international lending institutions.
Although those reforms are credited with increasing economic opportunity for some, they are also blamed for widening class divisions and increased corruption.
"If you take any country in Central America or South America, 15 years after the real opening of the economies in those areas, you have more unemployment, more poverty and people are relating inequality and injustice to neoliberal reforms," said Juan Gabriel Tokatlian, a Colombian political analyst.
"I think this is a kind of explosive cocktail," he added.
"Unless there is a new wave of economic, social and political reforms, with the issues of equality and justice at their core, they also will be doomed to failure."
Public anger with elected officials has manifested itself in numerous ways, prompting multiple government collapses in Argentina, a military coup in Venezuela, street protests in Uruguay and violent uprisings in Peru.
In a few countries, such as Colombia and Venezuela, voters have turned to extremist or populist politicians for answers after mainstream leaders failed repeatedly to measure up to expectations.
"People want results," said Marta Lagos, a Chilean pollster who recently completed a regionwide survey of Latin American opinions toward democracy, economic reforms and social development.
The spread of the Internet and international cable news programs have given Latin Americans a greater perspective on their quality of life, Lagos said.
Latin Americans demand to know why they aren't advancing after so many years of sacrifice.
"They want what they see out there in the world. They want stability. They want more democratic and economic development. A lot of people will not settle for less than that, which means that, in the future, we will probably be seeing more popular uproar against bad governments," she said.
The demand for reform goes far beyond economic issues, Tokatlian said.
Latin Americans feel they are sinking deeper into poverty while elected officials and a privileged elite appear to be getting richer. Accountability is severely lacking, he added.
"You have a judicial system that is practically impotent," Tokatlian said. "The fact is, no big fish has ever fried in South America or Central America. Without some critical examples, I think corruption will continue to be pervasive throughout the region."
Socialist candidates have been among the top two or three contenders in presidential elections in Nicaragua and Colombia despite the fact that both nations have suffered heavily at the hands of socialist guerrilla insurgencies. In Brazil, voters were recently divided between a far-left labour leader and a socialist from the centre-left.
This is democracy in action, warts and all, Lagos said. And although Latin Americans share widespread dissatisfaction with their elected officials, they are not giving up on democracy itself.
There are notable exceptions, however. In Paraguay, 38 per cent of poll respondents said they would prefer authoritarian rule "under certain circumstances."
In Mexico and Bolivia, 20 per cent of respondents answered likewise.
In 13 nations, support for democracy appears to be diminishing compared with polls taken since 1996 by Lagos's polling firm, Market Opinion and Research International.
Asked whether democracy is preferable to any other form of government, the number responding "I agree" has dropped by 21 per cent in Colombia and 20 per cent in Panama.
Latin Americans have many fresh memories of life under military rule. Now that they've tasted democracy, Will they ever turn back?
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