a banana country in 48 words

about two weeks ago i cut out this blurb from the Washington Post.. It sums up the weakness of latin american democracy... without solid independent institutions i doubt much real political and economic development can ever take place in these countries..here's what the blurb said:

"QUITO, Ecuador- Lawmakers opposed to President Lucio Gutierrez failed to revoke his government's firing of the Supreme Court in December. The vote in Ecuador's 100-member unicameral Congress fell three short of the 51 needed to reverse Gutierrez's decision to reconstitute the court with judges friendly to the president."