Latin America's Constitution Problem

There are many ways Brazilians could be rid of their much reviled president, Michel Temer, who was recently caught on audio tape allegedly consorting with a bent business man in the basement of the palace residence. Congress could impeach him, or send him to trial in the Supreme Court. Or, more likely, Brazil’s electoral court could convict him for taking illegal campaign money in the 2014 election. And yet because such solutions would mandate the scandal-tainted congress, not the voters, to pick a successor, Brazilians aren't pleased. And so the familiar refrain quickening pulses on the Brazilian street: Direct elections, now!

As catchy as that slogan may be, government is not an Etch A Sketch, and trying to sort a political crisis by retouching the national constitution is no more effective than changing roadmaps to avoid a cliff. Latin America has been here all too often before. Whenever strong-headed national leaders felt cramped or willful, the default mode has been to revamp the legal foundations. Haiti has drafted 24 constitutions and Ecuador, 20. Venezuela is on its 26th constitution since independence, and that version may get scrapped too, if President Nicolas Maduro gets his way. The Dominican Republic, which has sanctioned 32 rewrites since 1844, beats out its neighbors.