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Secretary General Insulza Underlines Economic and Political Opportunities in Making this “the Decade of Latin America”

The Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), José Miguel Insulza, today participated in a seminar titled, “The Latin American Decade: Visions for Development and Global Insertion,” organized by the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO) in San José, Costa Rica, in which he underlined the principal economic and political challenges faced by the hemisphere in this new decade and presented inspiring approaches about the future of the region.

Before an audience of academics and politicians gathered on the occasion of the inauguration of FLACSO’s new headquarters in Costa Rica, the Secretary General delivered a lecture in which he evaluated the recent economic performance of Latin America and remarked on the prevailing optimism in this area. “Most of the region’s economies have begun to grow vigorously, beginning with Brazil and Argentina, but also Colombia, Chile, Mexico, Uruguay, Paraguay,” he said. In this sense, he cited studies that reflect the growth and recovery of the region during the decade of the 2000’s and that show that the economy of Latin America and the Caribbean grew more in the last decade than in the previous two decades combined, something he characterized as an “inspiring success.”

In his analysis, the head of the hemispheric organization asserted that the sustained growth was the result of “greater ability in the management of the economy, the presence of strong financial systems, a greater order in public finance, and greater currency reserves in our countries,” and added that “as never before, the causes of the crisis came from abroad and the public policies from inside played a positive role in reversing it; this shows that, despite the weaknesses of our States, their actions not only are indispensable but may be effective in facing the challenges ahead. The government can be part of the solution.”

In his presentation, Secretary General Insulza examined some of the obstacles that persist in the economic sphere. He mentioned that positive growth has been the result of a substantial rise in the exportation of raw materials, and observed that “progress on educational matters and on technological-scientific development is still insufficient.” Among other areas that still need improvement he mentioned savings, investment, and job creation.

With respect to social matters, he explained that a very large number still exists of residents living in poverty, “in numbers greater than should be hoped in a continent,” and recalled that discrimination toward indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples still persists, and that a disproportionate number of poor households are still headed by women. “These and other evils also go hand in hand with an alarming increase in violence and crime. Drug trafficking, organized crime, kidnappings, human trafficking, firearms trafficking, and juvenile gangs are all an integral part of the region’s landscape,” he noted.

The Secretary General also spoke about the political challenges that exist and advocated for the adoption of measures to modify development policies to create quality education, increase the growth of productive employment, and reduce energy costs. “Improving access to education and the quality of education, productive innovation, the channeling of resources to productive sectors to expand employment opportunities—none of these will take place as if by magic thanks to the workings of the market,” he concluded.

In speaking about democracy, the head of the OAS mentioned improvements that have taken place in the continent, though he noted that “they are still far from generating enough confidence in the citizenry to take over those processes with total legitimacy.” He added that the first indispensable requirement of democracy “is that governments have their origin and derive their legitimacy from popular will: democracy is elections and democratic exercise by the elected authorities.” In this context, he recalled the work of electoral observation conducted by the organization he heads and recalled that the electoral processes observed by the OAS in the last six years “have successfully met the requirements of democratic elections. They have had some significant shortcomings, but they have been clean electoral processes, with a secret ballot and massive turnouts and with results that reflect the reality of the vote.”

Insulza reiterated that respect for the popular will does not fully encompass what democracy is, explaining that “democracy is in origin as much as in exercise and, to be called democratic a government must not only be elected democratically, but it must govern democratically.” He warned that democracies in Latin America continue to face a series of problems that he described as “de-democratizing,” such as poverty, inequality and discrimination. “Democracy is not compatible with a system in which the place of individuals in society is predetermined at the time of their birth,” he said.

The head of the OAS identified organized crime as a second problem of democracy, saying that it has its “basic nucleus” in drug trafficking and is present in other manifestations such as human trafficking, money laundering, firearms trafficking, piracy, etc. “A democracy cannot exist when some individuals clearly place themselves at the margin of the law, do not accept common norms that regulate the rest of society, and only follow their own norms,” he said.

A third difficulty facing the region is the need for democratic governance, which is affected by the weakness of institutions and the lack of independence and autonomy in the judicial powers as much as in the taxation and constitutional powers. Finally, he mentioned problems related to the exercise of civil sovereignty and the rights of individuals, among them freedom of association and freedom of expression.

Secretary General Insulza concluded in his speech that “democratic institutions in most of our countries are still too weak for them to fully take advantage of the opportunities that the new international realty offers them towards reaching sustained and sustainable economic growth, providing security to their citizens and developing more just and egalitarian societies.” The opportunity for this decade to truly be “the decade of Latin America,” he said, depends on the successful strengthening of democratic governance.

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

Reference: E-642/11