Despite the positive fact that democracy is the only legitimate method for the exercise of power throughtout almost the whole of Latin America, the quality of democracy in the region leaves much to be desired. Among other challenges we can highlight the persistence in many countries of serious human right abuses (perpetrated by the police and other armed agencies), the existence of rampant corruption and the inability to reduce social and economical inequalities (besides the achievements concerning poverty reduction). If such scenario persists, those troubles may jeopardize the impressive democratic advances from the past decades.