THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC AMONG THE 3 LEAST DEMOCRATICALLY DEVELOPED IN LATIN AMERICA

Venezuela, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic are Latin America’s three least democratically developed countries, according to a report by Latin American political consulting company, Polilat, which measures the institutional, political and economic stability of the region and reveals an average fall of 3% in the South American continent and countries/islands in this area. According to the Latin America Democratic Development Index (2016), the continent barely reached the approved percentage this year, with a 4.7% average in terms of social, economic, civic and economic democracy. The Index looks at civil liberties, socio-economic criterion, political culture and pluralism. Poverty, drug trafficking, bribery and corruption have become functional problems in recent years and this has reversed political structures.