Human Rights Protests Reduce Both Repression and Oppression in Latin America

This research explores how protests focused broadly on human rights impact two distinct types of state abuses: repression against political activists and coercion against nonpolitical targets. Using data from seven Latin American countries—Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Venezuela—the author finds that such protests are associated with significant declines in both forms of abuse when controlling for previous factors. The key finding is dual effect: broadly focused human rights protests decrease all types of abuses by discouraging politically motivated misconduct while simultaneously promoting broader accountability measures through potential reforms to criminal justice systems.