El Constitucionalismo Transformador frente a la Sala de Máquinas (The Transformative Constitutionalism before the Engine Room)

The paper discusses the engine room’s thesis about Latin American constitutionalism (Gargarella, 2013). In particular, the paper remarks that there are manifestations of Transformative Constitutionalism in Latin America through which the infra-application of constitutional promises has been overcome. Also, it will be demonstrated that there are significant incursions in the engine room of some Latin American Constitutions. Some factors have allowed the incursions: i) the generosity of the constitutional provisions, ii) the extension of standing to access constitutional justice (both in the amparo proceedings and in the processes of judicial review), iii) a strong but deliberative judicial power that reacts to structural cases of violation of fundamental rights and iv) mutual support between constitutional justice and inter-American justice.