Bolsonaro the worst — I can see the argument for Maduro, but Brazil is just so large & the scale of deforestation there has such significant global impacts that it's hard for me to come to any other answer.
Uruguay is probably the country about which I've heard the fewest bad things over the past couple years, so I guess Lacalle Pou.
That’s pretty much the standard rule for Uruguay though, regardless of who they elect president. South America can go to hell with political turmoil and Uruguay will still be forever standing as the sole paradise of stability.
It’s the perfect place to be a political refugee, live in an isolated farm and get older having a calmer life in a small country.
Argentina and Bolivia currently have my favorite leaders. Uruguay completes the top 3 by default.
Brazil, Chile and Venezuela are my top 3 worst. But Paraguay one is only not more hated because most people don’t pay as much attention to Paraguayan politics.
The -guays are so different. One -guay is so progressive, the other -guay so backward...
Landlocked countries have it way way harsher tough. Having ocean access changes a lot and gives you tons of independence, making Paraguay economy significantly more dependent of its neighbors. Paraguay history in the region was also very difficult.
Paraguay has to rely on the river for its economy and besides being a small country, has issues with their land fertility when agriculture is the most important thing for the country. Technology to improve soil’s condition have recently been developed but Paraguay has yet to fully modernize its rural sector.
They’re very culturally diverse and have strong Guarani indigenous influences spread mixed with European influence, inside an homogenous mixed population. They speak Guarani over there, it’s an official language. I think they’re quite unique people, while also managing to keep a low profile.
Being more conservative than the neighbors isn’t much of a problem. Just means you get at the same point one or two decades later. In regards gay marriage for example, I think sooner or later Paraguay and Peru will end up being on the same page as everyone else. Chile and Bolivia are on a bit more advanced stage (civil unions but no marriage) and in Venezuela Maduro has asked congress to consider same-sex marriage even if that’s probably only to make his international image more friendly and liberal, who knows if they’ll really try to go through with it. But even the signaling is somewhat positive.
Many countries would probably make good use of a constitution reform though IMO. Brazil and Argentina for example have more progressive constitutions exactly because they were created post right-wing military dictatorships, but the same isn’t the truth in most South American countries.
I see that these are ongoing demands on many places: Chile voted for a new constitution, you see similar talks in Peru about Fujimori’s constitution and tbh, maybe Paraguay could benefit from that as well even if I’m not a specialist on Paraguayan constitution to have property to say stuff other than I think it stimulates more conservative stances in some regards. But these talks always have to be very cautious because just like constitutional changes can represent shifts for the better, it can also easily mean for the worse depending of what is being proposed and the intentions of WHO is doing it as well.
Meanwhile, Uruguay is the most secular and progressive country any Latin American one can get. It’s also seen by some upper class people as the fiscal paradise in the region. But it also has been excessively romanticized in the recent years, when that’s an exaggerated notion mostly because of their strong European influence that is more palatable to Western audiences. Things aren’t necessarily perfect there either, they just are more boring.
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