This chapter considers the concepts of elite settlements and convergences with reference to the consolidation of democratic regimes in the three Latin American countries that have had the most stable democracies during recent decades: Colombia, Costa Rica, and Venezuela. Although all three countries currently possess regimes fitting the definition of democracy used in this book, they nevertheless display considerable diversity. Colombia remains, without doubt, the furthest from the democratic ideal. Its traditional political and economic elites, organized around the clientelistic Liberal and Conservative parties, have continued to dominate the state, at least until the general elections and constituent assembly elections of 1990 showed serious cracks in traditional party dominance. Popular political participation outside clientelist networks is discouraged. Persistent guerrilla movements and corresponding counterinsurgency efforts have led to numerous violations of human rights at the hands of insurgents, security forces, and rightist death squads. The rapid expansion of the cocaine trade, with Colombia at its center, has added an immensely powerful and wealthy illicit sector to the society and the polity, one that can be found collaborating at times with both insurgents and rightist forces and that increasingly penetrates the state and legitimate business. The old system of elite domination through liberal democratic institutions is still in place and working, but the society is moving beyond its control. In effect, the Colombian democratic regime is going through a process of deconsolidation.