Democracies in danger: are judicial dialogues means to refrain setbacks in Latin America?

Abstract

The processes of democratization in Latin America are accompanied by the rise of internationally protected human rights and their respective monitoring institutions. The Inter-American System of Human Rights is one of the central bodies in the region. In 2016 and 2017, two requests for advisory opinions regarding political trials and impeachment proceedings were presented before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. This article aims to verify the reasons invoked by the Court to refrain itself from issuing the two advisory opinions. As of the theorizations about judicial dialogues, the study of the attributes of reciprocity and possibility of divergence points to the conclusion that the silence of the Court regarding democratic setbacks has a lot to say about the deference granted to its member States. The two refusals of requests of advisory opinions work as dialogues between the Inter-American Court and the States of the region that face democratic challenges.