Two “social” summits in Bolivia.

[Say_What]

<clips>

Heads of state and government from nineteen Latinamerican countries plus Spain and Portugal will be meeting for two days beginning Friday in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, for the Thirteenth Ibero-american summit that on this occasion will concentrate on social issues.

Parallel to the official summit an alternative “social summit” will also be taking place in Santa Cruz de la Sierra organized by Indian associations and groupings that were decisive in the recent ousting of elected Bolivian president Sánchez de Lozada and his replacement by caretaker president Carlos Mesa who is hosting the Ibero-american summit.

One of the outstanding leaders of the Indian movement, Bolivian Deputy Evo Morales will be officially welcomed to address the twenty three dignitaries among which King Juan Carlos of Spain, Cuban leader Fidel Castro, Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez, Jose Barroso, Primer Minister of Portugal.

“We will be taking to the summit the message of all those who want to change neo-liberalism, a system that has ruined so many lives of our peoples”, anticipated Mr. Morales.

http://www.falkland-malvinas.com/Detalle.asp?NUM=2854

[Judi Lynn]

1. Amazing group of world leaders will be attending this event

I REALLY hope security will be intense. I think we all know certain factions in government would love to see several of these people vaporized.

It's great seeing the growth toward unity and Latin America's new strength, for the first time. They've always been devided and conquered so long......

Here's an unexpected article from the Washington Post which some D.U. readers might appreciate, considering the failing respect for the news media, with attention to Latin America:

(snip) Yet, recent polling data indicate that the Latin American press, too, is losing credibility. And while the media in Latin America still take a back seat to the church as the most trusted institution -- the U.S. media certainly cannot claim such bragging rights -- popular confidence in the Latin American press has dropped from 50 percent in 1996 to 36 percent this year. (snip)

(snip) Yet, unfortunately, some media owners still appear to be struggling with the very meaning of a free press. They try to slant or outright refuse to cover some stories in order to defend particular economic or political interests, not realizing that they are damaging their own credibility in the process. Instead of contributing to a better understanding of complex developments, such pressures on news coverage add to the confusion by serving interests other than the truth.

The situation is such that even U.S. Senate Democratic Leader Thomas Daschle, not known for having an axe to grind over Latin American affairs, all but asked the Bush administration last week to play arbiter on a delicate issue that is pitting the word of the press against the word of the government in troubled Venezuela.

Venezuela is an exceptional case of internal polarization -- the news media there have been unfortunately compromised because newspaper and broadcast owners have played a leading role in opposing the government. Yet public cynicism toward the press is growing in nearly every market throughout the region, according to the latest report by the Chilean-based polling firm Latinobarometro.
(snip/...)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A36799-2003Nov13.html

[Judi Lynn]

2. Concerning poorer countries

Here's something admirable from Hugo Chavez concerning the upcoming FTAA meetings in Miami:

Thursday, Nov 13, 2003

Venezuela refuses to accept hemisphere free trade without protecting poor

CARACAS (AP) - Venezuela demanded Thursday that Washington make a proposal for a hemisphere-wide free-trade zone less risky for the region's poor countries.

Competition between Venezuelan companies and powerful U.S. and Canadian businesses under the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas "would be like a fight between a 12-year-old boy and Cassius Clay," said Chavez, referring to the boxer also known as Muhammad Ali.

"The FTAA is a colonialist project," said Chavez, who frequently rails against the dangers of free trade and emphasizes state participation in Venezuela's economy.

"We are going to lead a battle there," President Hugo Chavez told a group of government officials and business leaders Thursday. (snip/...)

http://www.mytelus.com/news/article.do?pageID=world_home&articleID=1458529

[Judi Lynn]

3. The summits ended peacefully

Curiously, not a great deal to hear in American media! Apparently we're not very concerned, officially, until _Bush tells us we are.

(snip) Posted on Sun, Nov. 16, 2003

Ibero-American summit meeting ends tranquilly
Bolivia's new president gets a strengthened hand at a summit of leaders of the Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking world.
BY TYLER BRIDGES
[e-mail]

SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia - Replacing images of stone-throwing protesters during last month's bloody uprising, Bolivian President Carlos Mesa basked in the success of a tranquil summit of the leaders of Spain, Portugal and Latin America that ended Saturday night.

After the violent street protests toppled his predecessor and nearly cost Bolivia its role as summit host, Mesa left the two-day event with a strengthened hand, although he still faces numerous challenges in keeping his fractured and poor country on an even keel. (snip)

The leaders also emphasized that the United Nations plays a critical role in ensuring world peace and agreed to turn the summit into a permanent association like the British Commonwealth, known as a general secretariat. But they left undecided until next year's meeting in Costa Rica the site of the general secretariat. Spain wants it to be in Madrid, but to some Latin American leaders that smacks of the colonial past.

With negotiations for a free trade agreement set to take place in Miami this week, the final declaration also criticized agricultural subsidies, an implicit swipe at the United States.(snip/...)

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/7273793.htm

[Say_What]

4. Bolivia Offers Cautionary Tale for FTAA Negotiators

<clips>

...The Mexican Congress received Morales like a head of state, punctuating his speech with hollers and applause. In the Legislative Palace of San Lazaro Morales warned that more insurrections will follow if global financial institutions do not allow Third World countries to control their own destinies.

”The representatives of the World Bank had better listen to us,” Morales declared. “The World Bank and IMF and the transnationals must stop looting our natural resources, and stop privatizing basic services. … They must respect human life.”

By pushing forward with a plan to re-nationalize Bolivia’s natural gas industry, Morales may be asking for a showdown reminiscent of Fidel Castro’s sugarcane coup in Cuba. While speaking before Mexico’s Congress, he seemed to relish the idea of confronting the United States with the growing chorus of leftist South American presidents who now stand in open defiance of U.S. foreign and economic policy: Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, Lula de Silva of Brazil, and to a lesser degree, Nestor Kirchner of Argentina.

“Anti-imperialist thinking has grown around the world with Bush’s mistaken invasion of Iraq—and this thinking we should strengthen,” Morales said. “I dream of boosting this anti-imperialist message with a great summit including Fidel, Lula and Chávez, to show that we are united, and to make the North American imperialists think twice.”


http://www.inthesetimes.com/comments.php?id=443_0_1_0_C

[Judi Lynn]

5. Wow. He's very direct. I would think he believes he has support, too

Similar to the other leaders.

Make them think twice? In some cases, it would be making them think once!

Just checking in, have to leave. Plan to read the rest of the article about Evo Morales later tonight. I wish him all possible safety: he may need it, facing the strange crew we've got running things.

Latin America has been beseiged so long this may be the first time they've even been able to start talking about unity. Hope they have their chance to find out how to run their own countries without ANY interference from our political right-wing power-greedy politicians.

[Say_What]

7. On Free Speech TV yesterday I saw an interview with a couple

from Bolivia. They said that after globalization inflation was at 24,000%. Money was worthless and instead of counting money it was WEIGHED. People were taking wheel barrows full of money that wasn't worth the paper it was printed on. With the US being the worlds biggest debtor, we probably aren't far away from austerity measures in this country, although the corporate press does NOT report this.

This article from May 2001 explains the effect of globalization on Latin America.

<clips>

...In 1985, before neo-liberal reforms, Bolivia was battered by a global recession, falling exports and tumbling tin prices. The economy had spun out of control; annual inflation hit 24,000%. Since reforms were introduced, inflation has been reduced to 5%, the annual growth rate over the past decade has averaged 3% to 4% and exports—once dominated by minerals—now include agricultural and manufactured products.

But, as in other Latin American nations, economic reforms have also brought pain. Unemployment and poverty rose as government downsized and local businesses failed, while elimination of price controls and austerity measures imposed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) made life harder by the minute. Money once earmarked for social programs now goes to balance budgets and pay foreign debt.

The privatization of nearly all state companies led to thousands of layoffs in Bolivia, where more than 60% of the 8 million inhabitants live in poverty. “It is ridiculous to put the same neo-liberal policies used in Chile in a country like Bolivia, which is much poorer,” says Arturo León, an adviser for the U.N. Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).

Eliahu Kreiss, the former IMF representative in Bolivia, argues that long-term structural poverty is the problem. He says IMF policies seek to repair the economy so that Bolivia can repay future loans. “You have to assume that if a country comes to us and says they can't pay their debt then something is wrong with the policies that they are following,” Kreiss says.

http://www.latintrade.com/newsite/content/archives.cfm?StoryID=1255

[Tatiana]

6. Unfreakingbelievable!

So Morales isn't going to be a puppet, eh?

Or is he telling his people what he knows they want to hear?

It's too soon to tell, but I'm loving the unity that Latin America is finally trying to establish.

[Judi Lynn]

8. Interesting movement afoot to repair Bolivia without U.S. interference

Ibero-American nations focus on Bolivia after leader's ouster

Sunday, November 16, 2003


Associated Press

SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia — Leaders of Spain, Portugal and their former colonies in the Americas began work Saturday on a joint effort to help Latin countries bridge the rapidly expanding gap between rich and poor.

Presidents, prime ministers and Cabinet ministers from 21 countries spent much of the final day of the Ibero-American summit in private sessions as thousands of Bolivian students, workers, and union leaders wound down their own "alternative" summit.

Bolivian Indians in bowler hats and brightly colored shawls listened to fiery speeches and held town hall meetings, debating the region's deep-seated economic and social problems and applauding criticism of U.S.-backed free market policies.

On Friday, leaders of the meeting dubbed the "Alternative Social Meeting" presented summit leaders with a 13-point declaration calling for increased sensitivity to the needs of the region's indigenous population and opposing a Bush administration plan to create an Americas-wide free trade area. (snip/...)

http://www.rep-am.com/worldnews/628k.htm