Olive green politics: Notes about the Latin American militarism and political influence in the last decades

Abstract

Since Latin America there the militaries have been present in the politics of all countries in the region, varying from one country to another, but never absent. Today the armed forces as institutions are far from the political decision-making, but the military, as the retired officers, remain actively involved in Latin American politics. Recently a retired military officer in Peru won the presidential election. The intention of this article is to present some of the characteristics of political participation of Latin American militaries, and analyze the current military presence in regional political scene.