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Continuismo

Continuísmo (English: Continuism) is the practice by incumbents of keeping themselves in office beyond legal term limits for their elected office, often a result or cause of democratic backsliding and the erosion of human rights.[1][2][3]

Some Latin American heads of state indefinitely extend their rule by way of reducing or abolishing term limits,[4] via constitutional revision. An example is Alfredo Stroessner in Paraguay. Another tactic is legislative enactment, such as with Jorge Ubico, in Guatemala in 1941. A third tactic is by plebiscite, such as in the cases of Carlos Castillo Armas in Guatemala, Marcos Pérez Jiménez in Venezuela and the 1988 failed attempt by Augusto Pinochet in Chile. A further type is through a self-coup, as done by Getúlio Vargas in Brazil. Yet another way is for the outgoing incumbent to hand-pick a successor that they can use as a puppet ruler, as when Emilio Portes Gil and Abelardo Rodríguez in Mexico allowed Plutarco Elías Calles, "el jefe máximo", to continue ruling, a period known as the Maximato.

The extension of family rule occurred in Nicaragua with the Somoza family; in Argentina with Juan Perón; and then more recently with Néstor Kirchner and his wife Cristina Fernández de Kirchner; and in Cuba with Fidel Castro and his brother Raúl Castro.[5] Despite Peru's one-term limit established by its 1979 constitution, Alberto Fujimori illegally extended his rule to ten years through two re-elections.[3]

Former U.S. President Donald Trump often mused about serving in office beyond constitutional limits, before publicly ruling it out in September 2023.[6]

  1. ^ Baturo 2014, pp. 38–39.
  2. ^ Roland H. Ebel. "Continuismo" in Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture, vol. 2, p. 257. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons 1996.
  3. ^ a b Conaghan, Catherine M. (2006). Fujimori's Peru. Univ. of Pittsburgh Press. ISBN 0-8229-5943-7. page 8
  4. ^ Russell F. Fitzgibbon, "Continuismo: The Search for Political Longevity" in Caudillos: Dictators in Spanish America, Hugh M. Hamill, ed. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press 1992, p. 211.
  5. ^ Ebel, "Continuismo" p. 257.
  6. ^ Samuels, Brett (2023-09-17). "Trump rules out seeking a third White House term if he wins reelection". The Hill. Retrieved 2024-02-06.

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