Autocratization Research Journal (ISSN: 3115-2120. Online) is an open-access, peer-reviewed journal that was launched in January 2026 with the aim of highlighting and disseminating the analytical and reflective work carried out by researchers, teachers and faculty members interested in the processes of autocratization and authoritarianism in Latin America.
Programa de Política y Relaciones Internacionales. USA
The Captured Academy: How Authoritarian States Colonize the Institutions Meant to Resist Them
This article examines how authoritarian states convert the procedural safeguards of democratic scholarly associations into instruments of their own legitimation, using the Cuba Section of the Latin American Studies Association (LASA) as a critical case. Building on the concept of “sharp power”, it situates the manipulation of academic space within a longer genealogy that begins with Soviet efforts to subordinate universities, continues through the Cuban state’s replication of that template after 1961, and persists in the transnational networks through which Havana’s authoritarian public diplomacy still circulates. Drawing on the case of LASA’s Cuba Section, the essay traces a recurring mechanism, state organized delegations that present themselves as autonomous academic sections, the presence of securitylinked officials on ostensibly scholarly panels, and a procedural asymmetry that tolerates criticism of Washington while obstructing criticism of Havana. This asymmetry reflects a broader ideological unevenness within Latin American studies and the wider academic left, in which left-wing authoritarianism receives systematically more indulgent treatment than its right wing counterpart. But the defense of academic freedom is a public good whose value depends on its consistent, non-selective application, and that institutional capture is best countered by coherent universalism, by centering the testimony of those most affected, and by monitoring the transnational channels through which authoritarian influence travels.
Denouncing the Right, Defending the Left: A Content Analysis of the Declarations and Communiqués of CLACSO’s Working Groups (2018-2026)
For more than half a century, the Latin American Council of Social Sciences (CLACSO) has represented the largest network of social research institutions in Latin America. However, although it emerged seeking to protect academic freedom and the rights of intellectuals persecuted during the Southern Cone dictatorships between 1960 and 1980, today the institution gives differentiated treatment to Latin American governments depending on their ideological orientation and political system. This article argues that CLACSO’s institutional discourse presents a systematic ideological bias in the evaluation and attribution of responsibility to governments in the region, harshly denouncing the policies of democratic right-wing governments while discreetly favoring left-wing authoritarianisms. Based on a content analysis of the declarations and communiqués of its Working Groups published between 2018 and 2026, a corpus of 443 pieces from which 130 mentions of eight countries in the region were extracted, the research identified patterns of thematic selection, frequency, tone, and discourse among the different political regimes and determined that between 87% and 90% of the mentions directly hold right-wing governments responsible, while only between 0% and 5% denounce left-wing governments and authoritarianisms.
The Latin American Left and the Challenge of Self-Criticism. Interview with Magdalena López
In recent years, the Latin American left has avoided undertaking a critical and reflective reading of its own processes of autocratization, particularly in Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua. In this interview, Dr. Magdalena López, a Venezuelan researcher affiliated with the Kellogg Institute for International Studies at the University of Notre Dame and the Centro de Estudos Internacionais at Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL), whom I thank for her time and willingness to participate, reflects on the testimony of her mother, historian and scholar Margarita López Maya, who lived through the rise of authoritarian chavismo and the reconfiguration of the twenty-first-century Latin American left, including the role played by intellectuals and academic organizations, such as CLACSO and LASA, in legitimizing the chavista project, as well as the left's difficulty in engaging in honest self-criticism in the face of the systematic violation of human rights and the authoritarianism carried out in its name. Finally, she offers a reflection on ideological identity, intellectual responsibility, and the limits that should mark the end of one's backing of a given political project.
The Battle of Words: Why Do We Talk About “Far Right” and Not “Far Left”? Interview with Edurne Uriarte
In recent decades, public debate in Spain and Latin America has been marked by a notable asymmetry in the use of political language, particularly in the way academia, the press, and institutions refer to actors on the left and the right. In this interview, Dr. Edurne Uriarte, Professor of Political Science at Universidad Rey Juan Carlos in Madrid and Member of the Spanish Congress of Deputies for the Partido Popular, whom I thank for her time and willingness to participate, analyzes the academic and media bias that has normalized the use of labels such as "ultra" and "strongman leader" exclusively for the right, along with the discursive mechanisms through which the left's project has been historically associated with progressivism and democracy, even under autocratic and authoritarian regimes. Finally, she reflects on the "Battle of Ideas" that, in her view, the right must claim and promote in order to contest the left's discursive and political dominance, offering a holistic perspective on the present and future of ideological debate in the region and the world.
A New Shogunate? Democratic Reductionism and Elite Capture in Contemporary Japan
This article analyzes Japan’s new grand strategy under the administration of Sanae Takaichi, questioning electoral reductionism through the concept of “Elite state capture”. Through a prosopographic analysis of the main ministerial portfolios since 2001, it examines how access to public power is conditioned by family lineages (Sh¯ushi), university clans (Gakubatsu) and the corporate support of the nation’s most important business conglomerate (Keiretsu). The results reveal an educational oligopoly concentrated in the “Golden Triangle” (University of Tokyo, Kei¯o and Waseda) and a bifurcation in postgraduate studies that balances transnational legitimation with the endogenous indoctrination of the Matsushita Institute. Finally, it is demonstrated how this endogamous structure instrumentalizes the global rare earth supply crisis vis-á-vis China and maritime securitization within the framework of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QUAD) to justify the expansion of defense spending. It is concluded that the country operates a systematic transition from post-war constitutional pacifism to dynastic militarist realism, whose final objective is the reform of Article 9 of the Constitution.
Not the Exception, but the Pattern: Autocratization from Within in Hungary and Turkey
Contemporary democracies rarely die through coups d'état or abrupt ruptures. Today they erode gradually, through legal and electoral mechanisms used by democratically elected leaders who concentrate power while dismantling institutional checks. This article analyzes that process, and examines the way in which autocratization from within manifests itself through the cases of Hungary under Viktor Orbán and Turkey under Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Drawing on the theoretical frameworks of Nancy Bermeo, Steven Levitsky, Daniel Ziblatt, and Anna L¨uhrmann and Staffan Lindberg, the article identifies three central mechanisms through which democratic backsliding operates, including institutional capture, discursive resignification, and the legalization of incumbent advantage. The central argument is that what makes these cases significant is not their exceptionality but their replicability. The dynamic of autocratization from within has spread beyond Hungary and Turkey, and represents a systemic threat to contemporary democratic governance.
The Algorithmic Commissar: AI and the Preemptive Neutralization of Student Dissent in China
The advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has transformed the dynamics of authoritarian governance, shifting traditional physical and reactive repression mechanisms toward predictive, lowintensity control models. This analytical reflection article examines how this “technological turn” impacts higher education environments in the People’s Republic of China, utilizing them as experimental laboratories for the neutralization of dissent. Through a documentary analysis that triangulates classical political science frameworks, such as Michel Foucault’s panopticism, with recent human rights and strategic intelligence reports, it unpacks the functioning of what is termed the “algorithmic commissar”. The article analyzes the transition toward preemptive repression via the mass harvesting of civic metadata and the imposition of coercive digital infrastructures within campuses, demonstrating that this phenomenon has acquired a transnational repression dimension that pursues students beyond continental borders. Finally, it concludes that the most profound impact of this algorithmic panopticon is socio-psychological, by linking digital profiling to automated penalties within the individual political file (dangan), the authoritarian State induces a collective chilling effect that erodes interpersonal trust, atomizes the academic community, and preemptively neutralizes the viability of student movements long before their factual articulation in the public sphere.
Digital Populism, Polarization, and Disinformation: Gustavo Petro’s Discourse on Platform X
This article analyzes how the digital communication of Colombian President Gustavo Petro on platform X incorporates characteristic elements of digital populism, as well as understanding the articulation with dynamics of polarization and disinformation in the Colombian public debate. Based on the theoretical review of populism, political communication, and digital platforms, it is argued that X’s architecture favors the circulation of messages with high emotional charge, discursive simplification, and political confrontation. Based on a review of the specialized literature and analysis of representative publications by Gustavo Petro on X, the main characteristics of digital populism in the Colombian context are examined. The results evidence the recurring presence of a discursive logic based on the opposition between “us” vs. “them”, characteristic of contemporary digital populism. Similarly, the articulation between populist strategies, affective polarization dynamics, and the circulation of content associated with disinformation was identified, which tend to mutually reinforce each other within the digital environment of platform X.
Populism, Affective Polarization, and Worldwide Democratic Backsliding. Interview with Cas Mudde
In recent decades, the rise of populism, the normalization of authoritarian discourses, and the growing affective polarization have tested the resilience of liberal democracies worldwide. In this interview, Dr. Cas Mudde, Stanley Wade Shelton UGAF Professor of International Affairs at the University of Georgia and one of the most influential scholars in the study of populism and authoritarianism, whom I thank for his time and willingness to participate, analyzes the main factors that have weakened democratic institutions and the rule of law in Latin America and Europe. He also examines the rise of radical ideologies and nationalist projects, the distinction between ideological and affective polarization, and models of "militant democracy" as well as the links between antidemocratic actors. Finally, Professor Mudde reflects on the lessons that Latin America, marked by hyperpresidentialism and populism, offers to the global debate on processes of autocratization and the future prospects for democratic transition in the region.
Organized Lying and the Restoration of the Common World: Arendt on Propaganda in Cuba and Nicaragua
This article examines the relationship between organized lying, disinformation, and authoritarianism through Hannah Arendt’s political thought, focusing on the contemporary cases of Cuba and Nicaragua. Drawing on Arendt’s reflections on factual truth and organized lying, it analyzes how propaganda and disinformation operate as mechanisms for shaping appearances, neutralizing political plurality, and legitimizing authoritarian rule. The article explores the Cuban 11J protests and Nicaragua’s 2018 uprising as moments that exposed the gap between official narratives and social reality, prompting intensified campaigns of repression and information control. It also examines the contemporary use of anti-imperialist rhetoric as a strategy for sustaining political legitimacy despite growing external dependencies. The article argues that the combination of propaganda, censorship, and disinformation contributes to the erosion of the common world, the shared space in which facts can be discussed and subjected to political judgment.
The Same Script, Different Actors: Left-Wing and Right-Wing Populism as a Gateway to Authoritarianism in Nicaragua and El Salvador
At first glance, one could argue that the Nicaragua of Ortega and the El Salvador of Bukele are isolated scenarios, since they are authoritarianisms of distinct ideologies, Ortega from the left and Bukele from the right; however, they have more in common than it appears. Their main similarity lies in the way both dictators implemented populism in the pursuit of power and in how, to this day, they continue to use it to maintain that power and justify their actions. In this sense, it is worth revisiting the research and theories of the Dutch political scientist Cas Mudde (2004), who in his work The Populist Zeitgeist. Government and Opposition offers a definition of the concept of populism and its main characteristics, which are notably fulfilled in the cases of Ortega and Bukele.
Political Emotions, Populism and Autocratization: Fear, Angerand the Construction of Crisis in Contemporary Politics
This article examines the role of political emotions in democratic and populist systems. It argues that the emotional grammar of populism contributes to autocratization by transforming fear, anger and victimhood into instruments of political cohesion, institutional delegitimation and leader-centered rule. With particular attention to Latin America, it analyzes how populism operates in contexts marked by affective polarization, crisis narratives, and leadercentered forms of political identification. Although all forms of politics rely on emotions, populism is distinguished by its emphasis on negative emotions such as anger and fear, its intensification of the sense of crisis, its performative approach to politics, and its promotion of confrontational dynamics. Drawing on psychological, political, and economic theories of emotions, this article shows how populist leaders use emotions to polarize society, create scapegoats, weaken democratic institutions, and prolong their hold on power.
In Defense of the Strategic Perspective of Populism and Its Link to Constitutional Reforms
This article analyzes the dynamics of populism in power from a strategic perspective, examining its direct link with constitutional reform processes. While specialized literature predominantly favors ideational or discursive approaches, this study demonstrates that the strategic framework offers superior empirical value by focusing on concrete actions, personalistic leadership, and power preservation. In contextual environments characterized by weak state capacities and hyper-presidentialism, such as Latin America, populist rulers instrumentally exploit constitutional designs and plebiscitary mechanisms to execute strategies of state capture. Through a sequential process of constructive and restrictive constitutionalism, these regimes systematically dismantle horizontal checks and balances, capture judicial oversight bodies, and neutralize political pluralism. Ultimately, this article concludes that the prolonged deployment of these vertical transformations establishes contemporary forms of authoritarian constitutionalism, wherein elites strategically utilize a formal liberal-democratic fac¸ade to disguise and insulate systematically autocratic practices.
The Challenges Facing Venezuela in Achieving a Transition to True and Sustainable Democracy
Venezuelans looks like they are learning about democracy, but it’s different: they know it, they desire it, and they seek to rebuild it better. But that reconstruction faces a double challenge, bringing justice for serious crimes and, at the same time, envisioning a transition for which there is no blueprint. In this process, 21st century transitions offer new normative, institutional, and global tools that could make change faster and more demanding. The question is how to bring about that change without repeating the mistakes of the past. That is what we are working on.
Venezuela: Delcy Rodríguez and Bolivarian Post-Populism
On January 3, 2026, after U.S. military forces carried out a coordinated operation against Venezuelan military installations, ports, airfields, and command centers, capturing Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores, Venezuela appeared to be heading toward an unpredictable escalation. In the preceding months, Maduro had repeatedly warned that any military intervention would turn Venezuela into a “second Vietnam”, promising prolonged resistance against any foreign aggression. In this context of maximum tension, the person expected to assume control o the government in his absence delivered a startling message.
The Boiling Frog Paradox or How Democracies Slowly Die. A Deep Analysis on Democratic Erosion and Autocratization in Latin America
In the 1990s, Argentine political scientist Guillermo O’Donnell theorized about a particular political animal within the ecosystem of global transitions, delegative democracies. These emerged in contexts of deep structural crises and were characterized by a meager development of traditional democratic institutions, coexisting with deeply rooted practices of particularism, clientelism, and low state bureaucratic density. Despite these anomalies, O’Donnell maintained a relative twofaced optimism regarding transitions in Latin America, on the one hand, he foresaw few possibilities for a classic authoritarian regression in most countries of the region; and, on the other hand, he assumed that the different institutional configurations adopted by these political regimes still belonged to the genus of democratic systems, even if they were far from what traditional theory catalogs as an institutionalized polyarchy.
Academic Resistance and the Diaspora Against Authoritarianism in Erdoğan’s Turkey
This article examines the process of democratic backsliding in Turkey and the systematic assault on university autonomy as part of an “authoritarian laboratory.” Through the lens of Ece Temelkuran and the mobilization of Academics for Peace, it analyzes how the regime has transformed academia into a space of ideological control through “civil death” and the criminalization of critical knowledge. The text integrates the genealogy of social protest in Turkey, highlighting the connection between the horizontal structure of Gezi and the structures of academic resistance in the diaspora, to propose that the university struggle constitutes a key front against authoritarianism. The analysis focuses on the AKP's hegemony strategies, the impact of the diaspora on the construction of a counter-narrative, specifically the Kurdish one and the resistance against the co-optation of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and the double gender discrimination in exile.
Iranian Authoritarian Architecture and the Projection of the ‘Axis of Resistance’ in Latin America
This article analyzes the mechanisms that the Islamic Republic of Iran has employed to exert influence over authoritarian regimes and left-wing governments in Latin America. Drawing on three theoretical frameworks, including soft power theory, proxy network theory, and propaganda theory, this article examines the modus operandi of the Iranian regime in the region, addressing three key dimensions, public diplomacy and soft power, proxy networks, and propaganda and disinformation on social media. Likewise, the text draws on a historical and prosopographical methodology, grounded in academic and journalistic sources, to uncover the architecture of Iranian influence in the region from 2000 to the recent transformations resulting from the detention of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela and "Operation Epic Fury" in 2026.
Review “How Have Revolutions Changed the Lives of Women?”
The book “How Have Revolutions Changed the Lives of Women?”, compiled by Nastassja Rojas Silva, Valentina Bohórquez Polo and Sergio Angel, published in 2024 by Universidad Sergio Arboleda, constitutes a rigorous and necessary exercise of demystification of three political processes that proclaimed themselves emancipatory: the Cuban Revolution of 1959, the Sandinista Revolution in Nicaragua, and the Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela. With a prologue by ´Erika Guevara Rosas, former Americas director of Amnesty International, the work brings together more than twenty academic, activist, and testimonial voices that converge on a shared diagnosis: Latin American revolutions not only failed to fulfill their promises of gender equality, but deepened the subordination of women by instrumentalizing them as sustainers of political projects.
China and Cuba: A Post Cold-war Marrieage Part III: Collaboration in Biotechnology and Neurosciences
Today China and Cuba have a “stable, strategic, and long-term alliance” (Arreola, 2004) whose three fundamental pillars are: 1.) a geostrategic partnership by which Cuba serves as a bridge to advance China’s interests in Latin America and the Caribbean; 2.) collaboration in military-intelligence, centered on radio-electronics (SIGINT) and information technology (I.T.); and 3.) collaboration in biotechnology and neurosciences. This paper addresses Part III of a 3-part series titled “China and Cuba: A Post Cold-War Marriage”; Part I addressed “The Economic Relationship and Part II “Military-Intelligence Cooperation.”
Review “The Disaster of the Decent Ones” by Paula Bolívar
At the time of writing these pages, two former ministers, two members of Congress, and several officials from the Petro administration are spending their days in different prisons and detention centers across the country, or are fugitives from justice. The reason? The largest corruption scandal of the current government: the embezzlement of funds from the National Unit for Disaster Risk Management (UNGRD) and the use of those resources to buy off members of Congress. It is within this complex and chilling framework that the book “El desastre de los decentes” (“The Disaster of the Decent Ones”) by Paula Bolívar (2026) is situated, whose relevance emerges on two levels. First, because she herself conducted the investigation that exposed the entire corruption network and is the most authoritative voice to recount what happened firsthand. Second, because although corruption has become part of the landscape in Colombia, there remained hope that the ideas of change and transformation promoted by the government during its campaign would materialize into concrete actions against corruption. As the book shows, reality is far removed from those promises.
Authoritarian Pulse: A Model for Measuring Left- and Right-Wing Discursive Authoritarianism in Presidential Publications on X
For decades, research on authoritarianism focused almost exclusively on its right-wing variant (RWA), relegating the systematic study of left-wing authoritarianism (LWA) to a marginal position that has only recently begun to be reversed. This imbalance has left political science without analytical frameworks capable of classifying and comparing, within a single instrument, the discursive authoritarianism of both ideological orientations a critical limitation in a context in which Latin American presidents of both left and right employ the platform X as a privileged channel of communication. This article proposes Authoritarian Pulse, an integrated scale ranging from -5 to +5 that unifies the classification of left- and right-wing discursive authoritarianism across five analytical dimensions, designed for the monthly measurement of presidential discourse on X. The instrument was applied to the publications of Petro, Boric, Sheinbaum, Noboa, Bukele, and Milei during February 2026, using the Gemini Flash 2.5 API in two sequential phases: ideological filtering and classification on the scale. The findings reveal that Petro and Sheinbaum are located in the progressive left (mode -2), Milei in the right with incipient authoritarian features (mode +3), Boric as the most pluralist profile in the corpus, and Bukele as a case of ideological ambiguity that challenges conventional taxonomies, confirming the instrument’s capacity to discriminate between authoritarian variants of different orientations on a single axis.
The Limits of the International Order and the Reconfiguration of Authoritarian Regimes in Latin America. Interview with Tom Ginsburg
Amid the rise of illiberalism and the weakening of democratic institutions, Latin America faces persistent challenges related to institutional fragility, social inequality, and the strategic use of law by authoritarian governments and leaders. In this interview, Professor Tom Ginsburg, Doctor of Law from the University of California, Berkeley, academic director of the Forum on Freedom of Research and Expression, and author of the award-winning book Democracies and International Law, to whom I am grateful for his time and willingness, analyzes the authoritarian turn in the region, the instrumentalization of laws and courts, and the tensions between international law and the dynamics of state power. Furthermore, he reflects on the role of the opposition, the limits of international mechanisms, and the institutional reforms necessary to strengthen democracy and halt the advance of authoritarianism.
The Dehumanization of Politics: The Case of Carlos Manzo
Mexico is one of the most important countries in Latin America, as it is the second-largest economy and the second-most populous nation in the region, only behind Brazil. However, despite its enormous economic potential, the country has faced a profound security crisis over the past twenty years, resulting in thousands of people being killed and disappeared, triggering forced displacement, and generating millions of victims.
The Credible Threat of the Use of Force by the United States and the Transformational Change in Cuba. Interview with Juan Antonio Blanco
At a moment marked by abrupt transformations in hemispheric politics and economics, Nicolás Maduro’s departure from power has reshaped the geopolitical balance in Latin America, particularly for authoritarian regimes in Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua. In this interview, Ph.D Juan Antonio Blanco, historian, diplomat, political analyst, and director of the Cuban Observatory of Conflicts (OCC), to whom I am grateful for his time and willingness, analyzes the implications of U.S. foreign policy doctrine and the new dynamics of pressure on the Venezuelan and Cuban regimes. Drawing on a historical and strategic analysis, he reflects on the role of international pressure, the relevance of public opinion, and the real possibilities of a transition to democracy.
The Role of Political Parties and Public Opinion in the Authoritarian Turn of the Left in Latin America. Interview with Noam Lupu
In recent decades, the weakening of democratic systems in Latin America has been marked by the rise of personalist and populist leaderships, the deterioration of traditional political parties, and growing societal distrust toward democratic institutions. In this interview, Dr. Noam Lupu, Director of the Center for Global Democracy and of the AmericasBarometer project at the Latin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP) at Vanderbilt University, whom I thank for his time and willingness to participate, analyzes the political, economic, and social factors, as well as the party dynamics, that have given rise to populist and authoritarian projects in the region. He also reflects on the loss of democratic legitimacy and the methodological challenges of measuring public opinion in authoritarian countries, offering a holistic perspective on the present and future of in the region.
A Democracy Capable of Defending Itself. Revisiting theLegacy of Karl Loewenstein
Liberal democracies, at this stage of the twenty-first century, are reenacting an old paradox that has resurfaced with particular intensity, their greatest innovative strength, pluralistic openness to organized dissent, can become the channel of their self-destruction. Contemporary authoritarianism rarely erupts through coups d’état or the sudden abolition of constitutions. Rather, it advances from within institutions, using elections, parliaments, and courts to gradually erode the rule of law.
Comparative Populist Communication: AMLO and GustavoPetro in Their Relationship with the Media
Raul Cort´es, holding a degree in Journalism from the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, has built a robust two-decade career as a correspondent and media executive across Latin America, serving as director of the EFE News Agency in Bolivia, Uruguay, and Mexico, while currently contributing to Reuters and teaching at the Escuela de Periodismo Carlos Septién García (Cortés, 2022). This extensive fieldwork experience, combined with his deep understanding of regional media dynamics, grants him the authority to analyze, in his work “El choque inevitable”, the complex and fraught relationship between political power and the press under the administration of Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO). The text goes beyond a mere chronicle of clashes; instead, it advances a central thesis: the confrontation with the media is not a circumstantial accident, but rather the cornerstone of a governance strategy built on deliberate polarization, control of the media agenda, and the reshaping of public truth.
Hugo Chávez’s autocratic acceleration for the demolition ofthe Venezuelan Historical State (2006-2009)
This article analyzes the process of political radicalization in Venezuela during the 2006-2009 period, characterized by what we term the autocratic acceleration of Hugo Chávez. It examines how, following the 2006 reelection, the government transitioned from a referendum, based authoritarianism toward a model of communal socialism that sought the systematic dismantling of the Venezuelan Historical State. The study details the replacement of republican institutions and the autonomous university with the ‘Missions’ system and the new bureaucracy of People’s Power, tools designed to supplant the functional pillars of the traditional republic. Likewise, it addresses the symbolic dimension of this transformation, which included the alteration of national toponymy and the destruction of places of memory to impose a new ideological narrative. The analysis concludes that the year 2007 marked the end of a state continuity lasting more than a century, giving way to a fragmentation of collective memory and the establishment of a communal state uprooted from previous identity systems.
Is Democracy in Retreat? Authoritarianism, Populism and Regional Prospects. Interview with Lisa Zanotti
In recent years, the rise of populist leaderships and authoritarian discourses has reshaped the geopolitical and social landscape across different regions of the world. From Europe to Latin America, governments and political movements have increasingly resorted to rhetoric that invokes ”The People” and ”Democracy”, yet in practice rejects pluralism, attacks the opposition, and undermines democratic institutions. In this interview, Dr. Lisa Zanotti, Postdoctoral Researcher at Diego Portales University, Associate Researcher at the Laboratory for the Study of the Far Right (Ultra-Lab), and Director of the Fondecyt Project, whom I thank for her time and willingness to participate, analyzes the similarities and differences between radical left- and right-wing projects, populism, the opportunities and challenges of a possible democratic transition in Venezuela, and the early warning signs that allow us to identify processes of democratic deterioration in the region and the world.