Chipping away at democratic institutions

Published March 9, 2011

As world opinion coalesced behind the popular revolutions toppling authoritarian Arab regimes, besieged Libyan leader Moammar Ghadafi caught a break when a small group of sympathetic Latin America leaders turned a blind eye on his violent crackdown.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez was at first uncharacteristically quiet about his ally's plight before openly supporting the Libyan government and...