Movements and Political Parties of
Latin America and the Caribbean took place in Mexico from June 12 to 15, 1991/ Sixty eight organizations from 22 countries lem of 'the disappeared"".
The meeting took a clearly anti-imperialist standpoint, positive attitude in an international context where capitalist arrogance, militarism and imperial aggression encourage the
(Lula), the leader of the Workers Party of Brazil, was refreshing in its clear defence of a socialist perspective. Like Lula, we believe that socialism is more relevant, urgent and necessary than ever. In Latin America, even if the situation is not exactly favourable for socialists, it is capitalism were represented, among them the
Nicaraguan Sandinista National
Liberation Front (FSLN) and the
Lavalas organization from Haiti, the latter not present at the first meeting in Sao Paolo in 1990. There were also a dozen organizations from the USA, Canada and Europe present. Marco Antonio Velazquez, a member of the central committee of the Revolutionary Workers Party
(PRT - Mexican section of the
Fourth International) describes the meetings, discussions and decisions. MARCO A. VELAZQUEZ
F IRSTLY, the meeting issued a
number of solidarity declarations; with the Cuban revolution and in defence of its sovereignty against imperialist harassment; in defence of the conquests of the Nicaraguan revolution; with the democratic and popular process in Haiti; with the struggle of the Farabundo Marti Liberation Front of El Salvador; with the Revolutionary National Union of Guatemala and its proposals for peace with justice; and with the struggle for the withdrawal of US troops from Panama and the anti-colonial struggle in
The participants in the meeting also expressed their support for the Argentine claim to the Malvinas Islands and for the independence of Martinique and Guadeloupe; they unanimously rejected: "all the measures to give impunity in Latin Amer18 ism and seman rotts viration oil our- ica to those guilty of the crimes of militaridea that opposition is impossible so that anti-imperialism has been weakened. Happily there exist still those ready to oppose colonialists. Above all, the meeting laid the foundations of a continental front that rejects the neo-liberal offensive in the economic domain and the neo-conservative offensive in the political sphere.
Obviously, behind the agreements reached at the meeting there are a wide range of interpretations, analyses, viewpoints and political perspectives among the 68 organizations
Some are promoting a social orientation democratic
- in agreement with the processes of
"supervised democracy" underway. Other socialist currents are trying to adapt their strategy to the present international situation without renouncing their socialist aims.
Renewal of vision
The relation of forces on the world scale, which is at present favourable to international capitalism, requires of international and Latin American socialism that it review its theoretical vision; the fall of the Berlin wall and the implosion of the burcaucratized societies in the East have also meant the collapse of the old paradigms which sustained a considerable proportion of the left.
However there is a risk that the baby will be thrown out with the bathwater.
Some organizations feel that "modernizing" and getting rid of dogmatism means throwing into the dustbin of history the whole theoretical and political baggage of the revolutionary experience. Some which has failed, keeping millions of people in absolute poverty, disease, illiteracy liberalism nor worn-out nationalism can deal with this. Socialists must find ways of changing the relation of forces in our countries and throughout the continent in favour of the workers.
### Supervised democracy
If, instead of really challenging the model of "supervised democracy" which is presently being imposed, organizations adapt to such projects and adopt a gradualist vision, a supposed transition towards democracy, they will not achieve their goals. Socialism in Latin America needs to renew itself, reorganize and rethink its strategies, but such a renovation does not imply the abandonment of the perspective of socialist revolution which our continent needs. To paraphrase Che Guevara, we could say that "there are no changes to make, either socialist revolution or a caricature of revolution". And one could add: either an anti-imperialist revolution which is really popular and socialist or a caricature of revolution. * 1. The first meeting took place on the initiative of the Workers Party of Brazil (PT) in Sao Paolo in June 1990, hence the name the Sao Paolo Forum. See IV 190. 2. The next meeting is to take place in June 1992. The organizations present in Mexico have also decided to hold a seminar on the various Latin American integration projects; organize a forum on the North-South dialogue in a European capital and another on Latin America and the New World Order, it will send delegations to vanous international meetings and it will take part in the alternative celebrations of the 500th anniversary of the conquest of the Americas. A coordinating group to implement these decisions was formed, with the participation of the FMLN, the FSLN, the Cuban Communist Party, the United Left of Peru, the PT, the Lavalas, the Free Bolivia Movement and the Broad Front from Uruguay.