To have a better understanding of why presidents do what they do, I have interviewed 26 former Latin American presidents from 9 countries. The semi-structured interviews were conducted in the US, Spain, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, and Chile.

Arnoldo Alemán. President of Nicaragua, 1997-2002.

Óscar Arias. President of Costa Rica, 1986-1990, 2006-2010.

Patricio Aylwin President of Chile, 1990-1994.

Nicolás Barletta. President of Panama, 1984-1985.

Enrique Bolaños. President of Nicaragua, 2002-2007.

Abdalá Bucaram. President of Ecuador, 1996-1997.

Rafael Callejas. President of Honduras, 1990-1994.

Vinicio Cerezo. President of Guatemala, 1986-1991.

Armando Calderón Sol. President of El Salvador, 1994-1998.

Rafael Ángel Calderón. President of Costa Rica, 1990-1994.

Laura Chinchilla. President of Costa Rica, 2010-2014.

Eduardo Frei. President of Chile, 1994-2000.

Ricardo Lagos. President of Chile, 2000-2006.

Roberto Micheletti. President of Honduras, 2009-2010.

Luis Alberto Monge. President of Costa, Rica 1982-1986.

Abel Pacheco. President of Costa Rica, 2002-2006.

Ernesto Pérez. President of Panama, 1994-1999.

Jorge Quiroga. President of Bolivia, 2001-2002.

Efraín Ríos Montt. President of Guatemala, 1982-1983.

Miguel Ángel Rodríguez. President of Costa Rica, 1998-2002.

Francisco Rodríguez. President of Panama, 1989.

Eduardo Rodríguez. President of Bolivia, 2005-2006.

Antonio Saca. President of El Salvador, 2004-2009.

Ernesto Samper.  President of Colombia, 1994-1998.

Luis Guillermo Solís. President of Costa Rica, 2014-2018.

Manuel Zelaya. President of Honduras, 2006-2009.