My daughters grow up with the word “coup” as part of their vocabulary because it is part of their history. It’s not just something witnessed online the way many , including myself, have witnessed the ongoing struggle in Honduras. Coups are a familial story, something one of their parents survived, like genocide. It is not an abstract concept. So it is for most of Latin America.

A poll released last month shows that last year almost half of people polled in Honduras felt their country’s political situation was unstable.

When asked whether they agreed or disagreed that their country was headed toward a military coup d’etat, 29% of respondents agreed, which is a high percentage by Latin American standards, where the regional median was 15% in 2008. Also, when asked whether they agreed or disagreed that their country was headed toward a better democracy, nearly one in two respondents disagreed, and only 29% agreed.

The poll asked people on other Latin American countries if they felt their country was headed towards a better democracy or a coup. 36% of those polled in Bolivia felt their country was headed towards a coup, 22% in Guatemala and Venezuela, 14% in Colombia and Argentina, and 11% in Chile.

Via / 2 Weeks Notice