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OAS Secretary General: “Inequality, Violence and Institutional Weakness Are the Main Challenges for our Democracies”

The Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), José Miguel Insulza, today addressed a group of regional experts and said that the main challenges democracy faces in Latin America and the Caribbean are mainly related to the high level of poverty and inequality, violence and criminality, and to institutional weakness.

At the XIV Annual Conference of the Andean Development Corporation (CAF), the Secretary General exchanged views with former President of Panama Martín Torrijos and former President of Bolivia Carlos Mesa on subjects related to the role of international organizations in the strengthening of democracy, and in addressing drug trafficking, insecurity, regional integration and immigration.

Referring to the current state of democracy in the Americas, Secretary General Insulza affirmed that “in our region there is no definitive concept of democracy, something that goes against the existence of an Inter-American Democratic Charter, which defines it very clearly.” Upon establishing a direct link between the weakness of democratic systems and poverty, the head of the hemispheric organization affirmed that “this region, which has an income per capita similar to the world average, has too many poor people,” and he mentioned that the high level of inequality, added to the rates of crime and violence, “continue to be the main concerns for us.”

In that context, Insulza said that “this region, which has not had a war in 90 years, has one of the highest rates of violent deaths in the world,” a phenomenon he described as “completely unacceptable.”

Institutional weakness is, according to the OAS Secretary General, another factor that affects democracy. In this sense, he mentioned problems related to the independence of State powers, the threats against freedom of expression and the vulnerability of minorities. “In sum, there are many rights included in the Democratic Charter that are not being respected,” he said. “Unfortunately, our region is at a time when it will have to decide whether its democracy follows a Republican course, in the sense of adopting a government of institutions and laws, or if it retakes the course of a government of persons.”

The Secretary General explained that the OAS is working to promote the Inter-American Democratic Charter and to thus try to bring the issue of democratic weakness to the heart of governments and public powers. “The role of international organizations should be the role of promoting a forum for discussion, but we must be aware that supranational instruments do not exist, we are talking instead of multilateral organizations,” he said.

Finally, Insulza referred to the subject of migration, key in relations between the United States and Latin America. In this respect, he asserted that “migration continues to be, above all, an economic phenomenon, and as such it can only be regulated if we work together.” He also added that from his point of view, there are many possibilities for cooperation among countries to properly regulate migration flows and create temporary forms of migration. “The possibilities for cooperation are within reach, but for some reason these are issues we are not talking about.”

At the two-day annual conference that takes place in Washington, DC, experts from the economic, political and social spheres, as well as former presidents and other leaders of the region participate to present their perspectives on the present and future of the Americas.

A photo gallery of the event is available here.

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

Reference: E-323/10