RevDem Podcast · Review of Democracy

Benjamin Gedan and Elias French on The Threat to Latin American Term Limits

·25 min·1 clip

Benjamin Gedan calls Bukele’s defense 'whataboutism' while describing a suspended constitution and mass arbitrary detentions.

1. RevDem Podcast’s monthly special with the Journal of Democracy examines Benjamin Gedan and Elias French’s article, “The Threat to Latin American Term Limits,” published in the October 2025 issue. 2. Konstantin Kipp hosts Benjamin Gedan, a fellow at Johns Hopkins SAIS and a senior fellow at the Stimson Center, and Elias French, an independent researcher and former director of research at Zeno Group. 3. The episode asks how term limits have shaped Latin American democracy and why constitutional courts now matter more than coups or referenda in eroding them. 4. Gedan says Latin America has had term limits in nearly all constitutions since the turn of the 20th century, with Costa Rica, Uruguay, and Venezuela as early adopters. 5. He links the regional spread of term limits to the third wave of democratization and to the region’s history of authoritarian rule. 6. Gedan says Venezuela, Nicaragua, and more recently El Salvador are the clearest countries that have slipped toward authoritarianism despite term limits. 7. He adds that Paraguay, Colombia, and Brazil are examples where challenges to term limits have failed. 8. Gedan argues that the new threat comes from constitutional courts that appear independent while being influenced or packed by leaders. 9. He points to Bolivia after nearly 20 years of MAS rule, Nicaragua after the 2018 protest movement, Honduras as a less dramatic case, and El Salvador’s 2021 removal of constitutional chamber justices. 10. He says these cases motivated the article because the same tool could be used by other Latin American leaders. 11. Gedan says Nicaragua, Honduras, Bolivia, and El Salvador used human-rights treaties to justify rulings against term limits. 12. He names the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man, and the American Convention on Human Rights in the Nicaraguan decision. 13. He says Honduran judges cited free expression, due process, and the right to run for office. 14. He says Bolivia leaned heavily on the right to participate in government, and El Salvador referenced the American Convention on Human Rights and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. 15. Gedan calls Bukele’s defense of removing term limits 'whataboutism' and links it to El Salvador’s suspended constitution and arbitrary detentions. 16. He says the Honduran constitution treats attempts to change term limits as a decade-long disqualification from office and, in another article, as grounds for loss of citizenship. 17. The tone is analytical and cautionary, with Kipp pressing for country examples and legal details throughout the discussion. 18. The format is a structured interview built around the article’s historical argument, court cases, and comparisons with Mexico and the United States. 19. Listeners interested in Latin American constitutional law and democratic backsliding. 20. Listeners looking for a light, anecdotal politics conversation.

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from RevDem Podcast