Much of the recent progress towards democratic rule in Latin America appears to have been reversed. In Venezuela, the authoritarian government has just cancelled presidential elections. Ecuador recently experienced a military coup - the first in the region for two decades. A recent coup attempt in Paraguay failed but led to a state of emergency. A similar situation exists in Bolivia.
Drug cartels and a long-running guerrilla war menace Colombian society. In the forthcoming Mexican elections, the PRI, which has been in power for 70 years, will fight to hold on to its corrupt power bases once more.
Against this background, the re-election of President Alberto Fujimori in Peru, following a campaign which has been widely criticised by international observers for its irregularities and widespread fraud, is far from encouraging.
Much of the opposition to Mr Fujimori has been tainted by racism. Despite his Japanese origins, Mr Fujimori is known both to opponents and supporters as "The Chinaman" but his opponent, Mr Alejandro Toledo, has been at pains to stress his own local Andean origins and many of his more vocal supporters have crossed the line into outright racism.
Mr Fujimori can hardly complain. He himself came to power in the first place with a campaign against the Peruvian ruling class and its white European origins. His attempts to retain power have pushed him even further away from accepted democratic practice.
His intelligence service is known to have strong links with many newspapers and television stations, amounting almost to a control of the media. Only one cable station deigned to cover Mr Toledo's campaign. The others concentrated on unsubstantiated allegations of financial irregularities and claims that Mr Toledo had an illegitimate daughter.
A journalist who claimed to have video evidence of a meeting between the head of the state intelligence service and election officials was attacked by unidentified men who sawed through his arm to the bone.
In a report on the first round of the election the Organisation of American States (OAS) stated: "The Peruvian electoral process is far from one that could be considered free and fair." It said Government funds were used in Mr Fujimori's campaign. He dominated the media and there was not enough time to inspect new computerised voting software to ensure a fair count.
Consequently, Mr Toledo withdrew from the second round giving Mr Fujimori a victory that might have been assured in any event. Mr Toledo has promised a campaign of democratic non-violence based on the principles of Mahatma Gandhi. The appearance at his side of former military ruler, Gen Francisco Morales, suggests otherwise. Peru has become the latest case of retrogression in a region where democratic promise is rapidly fading.