Concerns of Police Brutality Spread to Venezuela

MOISES NAIM, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE: Every country that has been hit by the pandemic gets a fiscal shock, meaning that it needs to boost public expenditures, and while revenues for the public sector drop, and, therefore, you have a deficit. So, in that sense, Colombia is no different. They had a pandemic shock that they need — they need to bring back their finance in order. The problem is that they passed a tax reform that was skewed and clearly unsustainable, and, in fact, they have withdrawn it. One aspect that was very interesting in listening to the mayor of Bogota is that the way she described the situation, she never mentioned political parties. It’s as if the country doesn’t have political parties, when, in fact, in this case, they have been absent or very — they have taken a low profile. And that is the case throughout Latin America, where political parties have been weakened. And now the streets are the main channel to voice grievances that is common both in Latin America and around the world, and with the streets. Taking to the streets has replaced the role that political parties used to play.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: That is so interesting, because, yes, it was clear that she didn’t talk about political parties. And it was, listen to the people, because the people are out there telling you what they need. So, how do you put this in context of the wider Latin American content — continent rather? Because there’s a lot of discontent around, particularly exacerbated under the year of COVID.

NAIM: Absolutely, Christiane. And Latin America is going through hell. It is a disaster. Latin America has known crisis, political, economic, social crisis. That’s nothing new, except that now it is huge. It is unprecedented political turmoil in — all around, with very frail governments, in many sense, in many ways, and a terrible economy. The decline — the consequences of the pandemic on the economy have — in Latin America are some worse in the world. And listen to this number. The number of deaths, of COVID deaths in Latin America is 35 percent. And this is a region that has 8 percent of the world’s population. So, with 8 percent of the world population, Latin America gets 35 percent of total COVID deaths. So, that gives you a sense of the magnitude of the problem Of course. Of course, that’s necessary. And a lot of what she said, the mayor said, makes a lot of sense and needs to be done. The fiscal — every country that has been hit by the pandemic gets a fiscal shock, meaning that it needs to boost public expenditures, and while revenues for the public sector drop, and, therefore, you have a deficit. So, in that sense, Colombia is no different. They had a pandemic shock that they need — they need to bring back their finance in order. The problem is that they passed a tax reform that was skewed and clearly unsustainable, and, in fact, they have withdrawn it. One aspect that was very interesting in listening to the mayor of Bogota is that the way she described the situation, she never mentioned political parties. It’s as if the country doesn’t have political parties, when, in fact, in this case, they have been absent or very — they have taken a low profile. And that is the case throughout Latin America, where political parties have been weakened. And now the streets are the main channel to voice grievances that is common both in Latin America and around the world, and with the streets. Taking to the streets has replaced the role that political parties used to play.

AMANPOUR: That is so interesting, because, yes, it was clear that she didn’t talk about political parties. And it was, listen to the people, because the people are out there telling you what they need. So, how do you put this in context of the wider Latin American content — continent rather? Because there’s a lot of discontent around, particularly exacerbated under the year of COVID.

NAIM: Absolutely, Christiane. And Latin America is going through hell. It is a disaster. Latin America has known crisis, political, economic, social crisis. That’s nothing new, except that now it is huge. It is unprecedented political turmoil in — all around, with very frail governments, in many sense, in many ways, and a terrible economy. The decline — the consequences of the pandemic on the economy have — in Latin America are some worse in the world. And listen to this number. The number of deaths, of COVID deaths in Latin America is 35 percent. And this is a region that has 8 percent of the world’s population. So, with 8 percent of the world population, Latin America gets 35 percent of total COVID deaths. So, that gives you a sense of the magnitude of the problem.