ABSTRACT
In Latin America the militarist governments have benefited from the popular mentality. Latin America has had a very limited experience of democracy. It is not possible to describe as democratic, countries where freedom of speech is suffocated by the monopoly by the mass media of the means of communication and where equality of opportunity to achieve basic human rights and needs exists only in a form of words, and certainly not for all citizens. To attain a level of democracy on a more elevated plane than distortions requires popular organisation that has its origins in the struggle for the basic necessities of life: housing, food, health, work, education. The main purpose of democratically elected popular councils for the school system at all levels is not the fulfilment of the law but the promotion of education that is decentralised, critical and creative. It is role of the state to ensure the resources whereby the local plans can be brought to fruition.
