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Secretary General Insulza: "the Three Challenges to Democracy in the Region are Inequality, Organized Crime and the Lack of Political Dialogue"

The Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), José Miguel Insulza, said today at the opening ceremony of the Third Latin American Democracy Forum in Mexico City, that "at present the democracies of Latin America and the Caribbean face three major risks to their integrity: inequality, organized crime, and the lack of dialogue between political actors."

"These are aspects of democracy that need improvement, because they put at risk the very existence of democracy, but I think that with time they will be overcome," said the leader of the OAS.

The Third Latin American Democracy Forum, entitled "Democracy and crisis of representation: who wins the election, wins the power?” is organized by the OAS, the Federal Electoral Institute of Mexico (IFE), International IDEA and the College of Mexico and will run until Friday, October 12, at the headquarters of the College. Also speaking during the opening session were Javier Garciadiego, President of the College of Mexico; Vidar Helgesen, Secretary General of International IDEA; IFE President Leonardo Valdes; and Ernesto Cordero, President of the Mexican Senate.

On the issue of inequality, an issue that promotes discussion on a hemispheric level, the Secretary General said that "a democratic society, in which all individuals have equal political rights nominally, is incompatible with the degree of inequality that exists in our countries in economic and social terms." He added that "in this regard the monetary issue is critical." As an example, he compared the income distribution system in Europe and Latin America and the Caribbean: "While in Europe, before and after-tax the distribution of income improves by 12 percentage points, while in our region before and after taxes the income distribution is the same," he said.

Insulza talked about the risk represented by the growing influence of organized crime in some regions of the Americas. "It is also incompatible in a democratic society the existence of groups acting outside the framework of the law, which are governed by their own rules, have their own forces, and even have the chance to take control of territories within the democratic state."

Among the advances in this field, Secretary General Insulza mentioned the peace process of the gangs of El Salvador, in which the OAS played an important role. "The truce between the two main maras (gangs) has been important, because the murder rate has dropped to less than half. We are talking about 1,600 fewer young people killed this year during the night battles of San Salvador," he said. "This means that organized crime groups have an impact on society far greater than we can imagine, and this is also incompatible with democracy," he added.

Finally, the OAS leader explained how the lack of political dialogue significantly affects the functioning of the democratic system. "Democracy is not only going to vote every four years, is not only the meetings of democratic institutions, but it is the forging of networks of trust that enable all citizens to feel part of the same institutions, the same nation," he said.

To Insulza, "in many of our countries, that dialogue has been replaced - whether by the facts or by way of political confrontation - by the existence of tight divisions that turns every democratic election into almost a last resort, and that is not good for democracy either." "In democracy, the best is when winning candidates take office and those who do not win do not feel excluded from the electoral system, and do not feel that society and democracy do not represent them," added the OAS Secretary General.

Consolidated as a meeting place for politicians, academics, public policy experts, government officials and electoral authorities, among others, the Democracy Forum helps to identify problems and challenges and to explore and share different approaches, perspectives and paths in the care of outstanding issues on the agenda of democracy of citizens.

Until Friday, October 12, prominent figures in politics, journalism and academia will participate in the symposium, including former Presidents Hipólito Mejía of the Dominican Republic; José Manuel Zelaya of Honduras; and Carlos Mesa of Bolivia; the Foreign Minister of Paraguay, Jorge Lara; former Argentinian Foreign Minister Dante Caputo; the Egyptian presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabahi; the Executive Secretary of the ECLAC, Alicia Barcena and the Secretary for Political Affairs of the OAS, Kevin Casas-Zamora.

In the opening ceremony, the President of the IFE, Leonardo Valdes, highlighted the results of the two previous forums, stressed the role of the OAS and its Secretary General in making them "successful," and emphasized how these events are used to compare and analyze the functioning of democracies in Latin America with the rest of the world. The head of the Mexican federal agency said that the forum will discuss a document from the Kofi Annan Foundation entitled "Deepening strategies to improve electoral integrity in the world," which is "a diagnosis of the state of democracy worldwide and a set of recommendations” on what governments, electoral authorities, active forces and international agencies must do to “promote democracy in the world."

Mexican Senator Ernesto Cordero praised the role of the IFE because thanks to its existence "in Mexico there is no doubt that elections are clean," although in his country, he recalled, "electoral competition is such that there have been presidential elections that have been won by a few votes." Senator Cordero also noted the danger posed by organized crime and warned that "unless we face it with determination, in Mexico we will lose our institutions." The Mexican legislator also lamented the design of the political system of his country, which prohibits the re-election of legislators, so that "citizens can not judge whether a legislator is good or bad because they cannot be re-elected."

Meanwhile, the Secretary General of IDEA, Vidar Helgesen, emphasized that the Forum "will address critical issues such as democracy in Latin America and other regions of the world, the participation of citizens, and the inclusion of all social groups." He also stressed the importance of discussing, in the context of the development of democracy, the subject of security in the region, and particularly strategies to combat drug trafficking.

A gallery of photos of the event is available here.

For more information, please visit the OAS Website at www.oas.org.

Reference: E-365/12