Page 12 - MONTT LATIN AMERICAN MAGAZINE, OCTUBRE 2021 (English)

Will Latin American Democracies Survive Social
Networks?
Social networks in the Region acquire more and more credibility, to the detriment of the formal communication media, especially television. There are two problems derived from this: the power of disinformation, that is, false news, and the fact that Latin America has the largest network users in the world, all of which transform these instruments into socially and politically disruptive formulas.
Never before, in the entire history of mankind, has a revolution grown so rapidly and with such immediate and, in a sense, brutal political effects as the so-called Arab Spring, which broke out on December 17th, 2010.
The main protagonists of that event were cell phones and the access they gave to the internet and social networks, something that allowed a sudden democratic current that travelled through North Africa and several countries in the Middle East, helping to overthrow feudal monarchies and old dictatorships. Hyperconnected and mostly without leaders, these mobilizations spread like wildfire, at all levels without practically any control by the authorities, achieving important political effects, which continue to this day. It all started in a little-known city in Tunisia, Sidi Bouzid, when a street vendor, Mohamed Bouazizi, was stripped of his products by the police and in response, blew himself up in protest. During his agony, armed with smartphones, thousands of Tunisians rebelled against the poor conditions in the country and when the merchant died 10 days later, President Ben Ali was forced to resign.
Thanks to cell phones, the example of Tunisia was followed in the rest of the Arab world. In Egypt, millions of people demonstrated against Hosni Mubarak, who had been in power for 30 years; the Libyans attacked Muammar Gaddafi, with 42 years as national leader; in Syria they attacked Bashar Al Assad, then 15 years in charge of the country and where the protests caused a monumental civil war that continues to this day. In Yemen the citizens fought against Ali Abdullah Saleh, with 21 years in charge and in Algeria against Abdelaziz Buteflika, with 12 years.
The Sultan of Oman, Qabus bin Said Al Said and King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa of Bahrain were forced to increase the power of parliaments and promised better living conditions in both countries; in Jordan, Prime Minister Samir Rifai was removed from office, while in Egypt Hosni Mubarak was overthrown within weeks.
In Libya, the Gaddafi government resorted to the use of air force to suppress protesters and, in response, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, NATO, led an air coalition to stop it. The Libyan rebels, aided by the international entity, expelled Gaddafi from Tripoli, the
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