Uruguay again among the 6 freest countries in the world, according to Freedom House.

As it does every year, through its Freedom in the World report, the Washington-based U.S. NGO Freedom House measures the degree of access individuals have to political rights and the respect they enjoy for civil liberties in 210 countries.

With a score of 98 out of 100, Uruguay is once again the sixth freest country in the world for the eighth consecutive year, with the same number of points as Canada and the Netherlands. Finland, Norway and Sweden lead this year's ranking with an ideal score (100/100), while New Zealand is immediately below with 99 points.

The report for 2021, which was published on March 3, gives each country a score according to its performance in two areas: political rights (electoral process; political pluralism and participation; functioning of government) and civil liberties (freedom of expression and worship; right to freedom of association; rule of law; autonomy and individual rights).

With respect to Latin America, among the "totally free" countries like Uruguay -although much lower- is Chile, which with 93 points ranks 30th overall; it is followed by Costa Rica with a score of 91, Argentina with 84, Panama with 83 and Brazil with 74.

Peru, with a score of 71 and 85th position, heads the group of countries in the region that are rated as "partially free" according to Freedom House. Also in this category are the Dominican Republic (87th), Ecuador (88th), Bolivia (91st), Paraguay (94th), Colombia (96th), El Salvador (101st), Mexico (103rd), Guatemala (120th) and Honduras (130th).

Finally, among the "not free" countries in the region are Nicaragua (153rd) and Venezuela (184th).

Regarding its evolution, Uruguay shows a strong constancy in the maintenance and protection of its political rights and civil liberties: since Freedom in the World is published (year 2013), the country has remained with an almost perfect score of 98 except that first year, which was 97.

However, the same cannot be said of its neighbors. Argentina has shown a mixed performance although in general terms it has improved from its 80 points in 2013 to 84 this year (although it has lost one point compared to 2020). Chile has suffered a setback from a very good initial score of 96 to 90 points in 2020, although it has managed to rise 3 points in the last year. Brazil also shows a significant and steady decline that led it to lose 7 points between 2013 (81) and 2021 (74), while Paraguay fluctuates between 64 and 65 points since 2015.

Finally, Venezuela suffered a dramatic drop from 39 points obtained in 2013 to the current 14: in 2017, according to Freedom House, Venezuela ceased finalmente to be a free country.

*Director of Nueva Mayoría Uruguay

Source: El País