El lawfare

The wave of leftist governments that characterized Latin America and the Caribbean since the end of the 20th century formed a geopolitical map that was adverse to the interests of the US public-private sector in the region. In order to change the correlation of forces, lawfare or judicial war has entered the scene, an apparently democratic and legal mechanism by which to undermine the power, the image and the possibilities of reelection of the leaders of the left. However, little is said about the origin of lawfare as a strategy of a military nature, framed in a broad spectrum war, today called hybrid warfare, which seeks, through the combination of judicial, media, political or economic operations, the reconfiguration of hemispheric geopolitics. If in previous decades the classic coups d'état served to prevent the ruling left from deploying its political agenda from the institutions or even occupying them, today lawfare exercises the same function, but under the legal protection and maintaining democratic appearances. We are witnessing, then, the paradoxical demolition of the rule of law in the name of the law. But this threat is not limited to Latin American territory, which, like so many other times, has not ceased to be a testing laboratory. Once the "effectiveness" of this new system tool has been confirmed, what prevents it from being applied in other countries? And there are very close indications that point in this direction.