authoritarian tendencies are advancing from at least three sides in Latin America. These trends do not necessarily lead to an authoritarian regression or a transition to hybrid or illiberal regimes.

But they do place democracies on a tightrope, which hangs between leaderships and institutions. The security crises caused by the expansion of organized crime, drug trafficking, urban gangs and migratory diasporas generate an atmosphere conducive to the securitization of politics. A positive note, amid so many alarm signals, has been the presidential inauguration of Bernardo Arévalo in Guatemala.