At least on paper, both Europe and the Americas seem equally
committed to being democracies-only clubs, willing to defend
and preserve the rule of law in member nations. In practice,
however, it may be unfair to compare the perplexing web of regional Latin American
organisations with the European Union. The juxtaposition of the EU's recent statement
of concern over the rule of law in Poland and the long-overdue response by Latin
American and Caribbean governments to the decades-long political crisis festering in
Venezuela is a striking case in point.