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News and information about Costa Rica, the real estate market, tourism and industry.
The status of freedom in nearby countries is exactly what one would expect. A survey released Monday by Freedom House gave a failing grade to Cuba and so-so evaluations for Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Colombia.
Costa Rica continued its top evaluation as a electoral democracy.
Freedom House is the U.S.-based democracy monitoring group. Its report said that global freedom is on the retreat around the world for a third consecutive year. The group's annual survey covered the state of political rights and civil liberties in 193 countries.
The annual Freedom House survey assigns each country one of three grades: "free," "partly free" or "not free".
Costa Rica got a top score, 1s both in political rights and civil liberties.
Cuba got the lowest grade, a 7, in political rights and a 6 in civil liberties. It was judged not free, the only Western Hemisphere country to attain that low ranking.
Guatemala (4 and 3) was judged partly free, as were Honduras (3 and 3), Nicaragua (4 and 3), Venezuela (4 and 4) and Colombia (3 and 4). Even Haiti (4 and 5) was judged partly free.
Freedom House, using its numerical rankings, found that the number of countries measured as "free" in 2008 stands
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Freedom House graphic
Quick summary of Western Hemisphere freedom
at 89, one fewer than last year. Setbacks for freedom were numerous and across the board. The regions with the largest decline were sub-Saharan Africa and the non-Baltic countries of the former Soviet Union.
In Africa, 12 countries, including Senegal, Mauritania, Guinea, Congo and Zimbabwe, suffered setbacks amid ethnic conflicts, increasingly authoritarian presidents and military coups. Several areas in the former Soviet Union ranked even lower, notably Russia and Georgia.
Freedom House Director of Research Arch Puddington says the former Soviet Union is the only region that has shown a steady decline during the past decade.
The Freedom House report looks to U.S. President-elect Barack Obama to engage in high diplomacy to support and defend freedom around the world. It adds that the incoming Obama administration will need to develop creative strategies to deal with what it calls "increasingly assertive antagonists to democracy."
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