New York – The Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), Luis Almagro, stated that democracy is the\u00a0continent\u2019s\u00a0fundamental political principal.\u00a0In special remarks, he encouraged regional leaders to work with enthusiasm and determination to strengthen and broaden the\u00a0conquests reached in this area.<\/p>\n
Almagro presented his views during\u00a0a special presentation delivered during the\u00a0Sixth Panel of the Global Forum on Latin America and the Caribbean that is being held in New York City with the support of the\u00a0Global Foundation for Democracy and Development (GFDD),\u00a0its sister institution in the Dominican Republic, the\u00a0Fundaci\u00f3n Global Democracia y Desarrollo\u00a0(Funglode);\u00a0IDEA Internacional; the Latin American Studies Institute\/Columbia University,and the ECLAC.\u00a0Various former presidents and experts from various countries and institutions are also participating in the event.<\/p>\n
During his keynote remarks, Almagro explained that democracy is the\u00a0right\u00a0path to follow on the road towards development and respect for the fundamental\u00a0prerogatives\u00a0of citizens.<\/p>\n
The OAS Secretary General also stated that the Latin American and Caribbean regions are experiencing a setback when it comes to the implementation of the democratic system, with the introduction of authoritarian governments\u00a0that bring with it\u00a0weak legal foundations.<\/p>\n
In order to counterattack this situation, Almagro suggested the immediate launching of a fourth democratic wave that will facilitate the expansion of democracy throughout the entire Western Hemisphere.<\/p>\n
During his intervention, titled \u201cPerspectives on Democracy in Latin America and the Caribbean,\u201d the OAS Secretary General encouraged the peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean to work on a daily basis to build a solid and effective democratic system that will leave no space for the entry of authoritarian governments.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need less fear and more energy to face the dictatorships in the region,\u201d stated Almagro.\u00a0\u201cWe have sent clear messages that we want a hemisphere free of crimes against humanity,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Almagro\u2019s conference was commented by a\u00a0panel of experts\u00a0integrated by former Presidents Leonel Fern\u00e1ndez,\u00a0of the Dominican Republic; the President of the Central American Integration System (SICA), Vinicio Cerezo,\u00a0from Guatemala; and\u00a0Carlos Mesa,\u00a0from Bolivia. \u00a0Also,\u00a0Isabel de\u00a0Saint Malo de\u00a0Alvarado,\u00a0Vice President of Panama andJorge Casta\u00f1eda,\u00a0former Mexican Foreign Minister.\u00a0The panel was headed by\u00a0Daniel Zovatto,\u00a0Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean for\u00a0IDEA Internacional.<\/p>\n
Former Bolivian President\u00a0Carlos Mesa\u00a0said during his intervention that he agreed with\u00a0Almagro\u00a0in regards to the existence of non-democratic governments in the region. He indicated that the most crucial issue is that certain strong regimes disguise themselves as democratic governments and manipulate a good portion of the population and generate\u00a0confusion.\u00a0\u201cThere is an intelligent but perverse manipulation of the democratic concepts,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n
At the same time,\u00a0Vinicio Cerezo,\u00a0former President of Guatemala,\u00a0reiterated that the democracy issue in Latin America\u00a0must be seen with an ample\u00a0visionbecause the system grew due to the efforts carried out to prevent the return of the military dictatorships.\u00a0This is why certain aspects were incorporated that contributed to the weakening certain rights of citizens.<\/p>\n
Former President\u00a0Cerezo\u00a0also stated that\u00a0politiciansand representatives from the private business sector are equally important in the strengthening of democracy and institutionality. \u00a0\u201cTo think differently, would be a grave mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the same time, Panamanian Vice President\u00a0Isabel\u00a0de Saint Malo de Alvarado encouraged all to work to consolidate the democratic advances introduced by the region and highlighted that a major challenge is to work to make the local institutions more effective.<\/p>\n
Former Mexican Foreign Minister,\u00a0Jorge Casta\u00f1eda, said that democracy in Latin America and the Caribbean faces great challenges, specifically when it comes to the violation of human rights in certain countries. \u00a0This situation has encouraged regional leaders to\u00a0take the case to the International Court of Human Rights\u00a0and Justice.<\/p>\n
Former President Fern\u00e1ndez also stated that the fundamental challenge faced by democracy in the region is to fully satisfy the expectations of the people.<\/p>\n
He also indicated that the so-called \u201clost decade\u201d of the 20th century was provoked because the regional democracies were not prepared to satisfy the needs of their citizens.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), Luis Almagro, stated that democracy is the continent\u2019s fundamental political principal. In special remarks, he encouraged regional leaders to work with enthusiasm and determination to strengthen and broaden the conquests reached in this area.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":483,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.globalforumlac.org\/2018\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.globalforumlac.org\/2018\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.globalforumlac.org\/2018\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalforumlac.org\/2018\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalforumlac.org\/2018\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=544"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalforumlac.org\/2018\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":555,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalforumlac.org\/2018\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544\/revisions\/555"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalforumlac.org\/2018\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.globalforumlac.org\/2018\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalforumlac.org\/2018\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalforumlac.org\/2018\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}