[Extracts from the] Presentation by the Communist Party of Cuba's Delegation to the 5th Sao Paulo Forum
The Evolution of the Economic, Social, and Political
Situation of Latin America and the Caribbean
Brothers and Sisters,
1. In order to outline the evolution... of the economic, social, and political situation of Latin America and the Caribbean which has transpired between the fourth and this fifth meeting of the Sao Paulo Forum, we are obliged to refer to certain phenomena and processes that for reasons of time we will not be able to analyze in depth. For this reason, it is Dear indispensable that we place inside this context the hands of the few. These phenomena led to an increase in poverty and marginalization as never before.
4. The financial collapse and fragility of the governments facilitated the transfer of ownership of the means of production to the creditors. They honoured transnational dominion above their countries' economies and they amplified foreign influence over domestic politics. Special mention deserves to be given
São Paulo Forum subhuman status.
7. The reality of the subcontinent is that the financial "boom" was destined to mean that resources were to be sent outside the region. This has created a fictitious process which contributed to international monetary reserves and which was financed in our region by deficit commercial and fiscal activities. This was artificially sustained by imports, resulting in the loss of our ability to control inflation and stimulating local bourgeoisies into readers previously discussed perspectives.
We need 300 new
2. To broach the subscribers in 1995 to problems of our region, secure International it is necessary to confront
Viewpoint's future. The two misconceptions. The coupon on page three first misconception is explains how to that the subcontinent is subscribe and how much progressing toward to send as a minimum economic development and social justice. The to the "Brady Plan, " a mechanism designed to save North American banks from the devaluation of their loans and "to capture" the most profitable productive sectors of Latin America and the Caribbean. Little by little this plan contributed to the growing regional foreign debt, which by the end of 1994 reached $534 US billion. This aggravated the hyper-consumerism by means of credit channels, which produced a model of supposed economic growth financed by speculation.
8. The result of sponsoring speculative creations is expressed in growing economic deformation. The impulse for privatization and marginalization of economies has accentuated unemployment and curtailed real growth. It has enhanced the impulse toward marginalization... annulled the competitive capacity of the contribution.
other misconception
In solidarity the affirms that continent is moving
The editorial board toward the of
Region consolidation democracy.
Belgium
Denmark
France
3. With so much at
Germany stake, it is important to
Greece clear have a
Great Britain understanding of the
Ireland decade of the 1980s.
Netherlands
The drainage of net
Norway financial resources and
Sweden situations of the debtor nations, which couldn't count on financial activities to back up the present "mortgage."
goal
5. Paralleling this was
2
9 indiscriminate commercial
4 opening and deregulation,
14 which fed the appetites of the
6 international financial system.
50
The result of this was hundreds of billions of dollars local withdrawn from
6 businesses and production
19 and put at the disposal of national productive capacity, accelerated de-industrialization, increased the foreign debt, augmented the commercial deficit, degraded the conditions of life for the majority, deepened the concentration of property in the hands of a few, and in all but a few cases, eliminated all possibility of technical progress and development for our countries.
9. Combined with the socio-economic phenomena already mentioned is the question of whether Latin America and the Caribbean can effectively encounter a process of consolidation of democracy. Is the transference of
Total Europe
Latin American and
Canada
Caribbean goods and
United States services to the export
Total Americas sector created recession, hyper-inflation,
Hong Kong in stagnation
Japan employment and per
Total Asia capita consumption, a decline in production
Australia and the weakening of
139 more speculative gambles to
20 obtain easier profits.
90
110
6. Mediating this magic of arithmetical
21 macroeconomic incantations
14 a number of institutions now
53 announce the end of what was called in Latin America and
8 the Caribbean the "Lost
5 democracy able to coexist with inequality and injustice? Are we able to have democracy in countries that are every day
New Zealand of broad sectors
Total production, financial
Speculation, and the
Rest of the world property and revenue in
Grand Total
Decade." This created a
13 situation in which two-thirds of the regions' inhabitants fell
13 into classifications like
"unviable,"
strange
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International Viewpoint #268 July 1995
São Paulo Forum more dependent and less sovereign?
10. In order to be able to answer this question, it is important to separate ourselves from a logic imposed on us which says that we must accept a subordinate role within the new system of international relations.
11. The principal elements that conform to this "New World Order" are the implantation of a code of values and conduct destined to impose on all the nations a political model that facilitates foreign domination and guarantees limited sovereignty and the right of intervention. They justify intervention in international questions and broaden coercive mechanisms which impose the interests of the powerful and amplify sanctions against those who do not obey.
12. The proponents of the "New World Order" would like to legitimize these norms of behavior in the same way that international financial organizations would like to impose restrictions in the economic and social sphere. The combination of both make up pincers that restrict the sovereignty of our nations. In this manner they produce a dual process, one part of which is that they weaken those elements in our governments that are opposed to trans-national capital, while at the same time they aid and abet the repressive elements in those governments against the sectors most affected by the crisis.
13. In the case of our continent, with the motive of heightening social and political crisis and promoting violence in various places, the United States and the dominant elites in Latin America and the Caribbean worked hand in hand throughout the past decade in the creation of new mechanisms for preserving their interests, and especially to stop the reform and revitalization of the Organization of American States.
14. In a similar process, the "Latin America Summit," celebrated in Miami in December 1994, constituted the 10
International Viewpoint #268 July 1995 culmination of the first step in the restructuring of the system of hemispheric relations, whose objectives have been: to consolidate and re-articulate a new design in the economic relations of the continent; to define a new collective security system; and to deepen the campaign to isolate the Cuban Revolution. Within this context, they produced the United States military intervention in Haiti, which constitutes a defining example of the new concept of "hemispheric security."
15. However, what is the relation between sovereignty and democracy?
And how can they tout the claim that they are strengthening democracy while at the same time accentuating the process of the loss of sovereignty?
16. It is certainly not possible to compare the real political situation in Latin
America and the Caribbean with the period of military dictatorships. Also, it would be erroneous to generalize about the political systems of all the countries of the region. It is a reality that the popular forces approve of the democratic spaces which exist for gathering forces and competing in conditions relatively less disadvantageous within the system.
17. Nevertheless, what has become dominant is a regional political panorama characterized by such practices as the elimination of a real choice among candidates, expensive electoral campaigns, manipulation of the mass media of communication, existence of "permanent authorities," "powers," unchallengeable elections, "indisputable polls", interference of the United States in the internal affairs of other nations, and influence of the armed forces in political life.
18. Far from advancing democracy, unemployment and a decline in the level and quality of life for two-thirds of the population of our subcontinent. It forces popular sectors to accept calls for social pacts and other similar formulas which restrict the gains and democratic spaces achieved during years of struggle. Democratic spaces achieved during ???
19. The limitations of this political model and the effects of the socioeconomic and political crisis are also defined by the dependent character of the nations of Latin America and the Caribbean, especially in this period of the loss of national sovereignty. A new form of permanent authority is coming to the fore, situated in the central banks, the economic ministries, and other governmental institutions, whose political preconditions - through conventions and mediated agreements and in large part thorough "elected"
government - is not subject to change and whose functionaries share the viewpoint of major commercial and financial institutions.
20. Now, if the political system has become a dead weight, if the difficulty of the socio-economic crisis is more than can be dealt with, and if the fundamental decisions that affect the subcontinent are predetermined by foreign interests, we must ask what real weight in fundamental decisions do voters have that affect the nations of Latin America and the
Caribbean? What margin remains for the exercise of democracy?
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21. The answer is that we must support, on the one hand, the demand for universal suffrage, direct elections, and the secret ballot, as well as for real and effective democracy, on the other. This duality can have an echo in an apparently democratic political system whose real function is to facilitate the subordination of the subcontinent to new mechanisms of global domination. What we need to support is the idea that such fundamental decisions should be made democratically by the people.
22. Within this small opening, how do we evaluate the activities of the parties and the political movements between the fourth and fifth meetings of the Sao Paulo Forum? How do we evaluate the electoral results obtained so far? What is the perspective for the popular struggles in our subcontinent?
23. Within the climate of deepening social and political crisis in Latin America and the Caribbean, we see a re-animation of popular forces continually involved in a process that is intermingled with fractioning and tensions. In these debates, we are looking for alternatives, regroupments, and the recomposition of alliances.
24. We must take into account the effects of the crisis. The popular struggles against the phenomena of growing corruption on the continent are without precedent. They have interrupted the mandates of three presidents, presented charges against various ex-presidents and corrupt politicians, initiated judicial proceedings against senators, deputies, and other elected officials in numerous countries. One of the highest tendencies within the activity of social movements in Latin America and the Caribbean is that which begins with a restoration of struggles within this narrow framework. With each struggle the people gain a better understanding of the structural character of the crisis.
25. Within the political spectrum of the Sao Paulo Forum, we have seen the The 1994 bound collection of International Viewpoint is now available --price
$US25,/£15. Bound volumes for previous years only $US15/£10 following gains on the electoral plane. The triumph of the Revolutionary Democratic Party in the Panamanian presidential elections, as well as participation of other parties in governmental coalitions which have won [unreadable figure] deputies, 57 senators, and 10 governorships. At the same time, hundreds of mayoral victories have been attained with more than 29 million votes, constituting 24% of the votes cast in the present electoral cycle. It speaks to the class character of those excluded from the system that the organizations represented in the Forum have obtained a quarter of these recent votes. Without doubt, the majority of our parties and political movements have not had an equal experience. Consequently, our general electoral results have sparked a deep and constructive debate, as we have seen reflected in this meeting.
26. Furthermore, because of the discrimination suffered, the left has not yet developed articulate political and economic programs capable of attracting the majority of the population. Therefore our level of unity is precarious and insufficient for confronting the formidable waste of all types of resources that characterizes the dominant classes. Our parties and political movements have faced immense challenges in the struggle of our people to better understand the causes and the nature of the crisis that affects our continent, to create an indispensable consciousness for "change," and to educate about the urgent necessity of the economic and political integration of Latin America.
27. Finally, permit us to make a very brief reference to Cuba. The Cuban Revolution is a historical process in development, summarized by a permanent climate of blockade, hostility, and intense isolation, which some would now call "the project of the Helms-Burton Law. Throughout this process, the Revolution has been and remains in constant evolution modifications correspond with the aspirations and needs of our people and with the conditions and possibilities at each moment. It is true that the changes occurring in the international scene place Cuba in a particularly difficult situation, which dictates the necessity of introducing certain modifications in social, economic, and political areas. However, the characteristics and rhythms of the present and future evolution of the Cuban political and economic project will be determined solely by the aspirations and potentialities of our own people, without external
Document impositions or conditions.
28. In conclusion, during the period between the fourth and fifth meetings of the Sao Paulo Forum, the situation in Latin America and the Caribbean was characterized by the deepening of the socio-political crisis, the advances of the United States in the process of rearticulating hemispheric relations, and the demonstrated capacity of the dominant political system to roll back the electoral gains of the left. However, the evident signs of the birth of the popular movement could not be hidden.
29. At this time, the challenges facing the popular forces of the continent are formidable. What do we do to broaden the democratic space inside our societies while so much external pressure acts to fortify antidemocratic tendencies? How do we avoid proposing to the masses what seems unattainable at the moment, while at the same time we avoid attempting less than the hopes of our peoples? It is an illusion to pretend that we already have the answers. Also, it would be absurd that a forum as broad and diverse as this would be able to elaborate acceptable recipes that would be applicable for everyone.
30. Without doubt, it is evident that the hemispheric pact signed at the Miami Summit was designed to stop the advance of popular sectors in Latin America and the Caribbean. For this reason, to be able to develop a continental strategy in response, it is indispensable to strengthen the Sao Paulo Forum, with the objective that we will be able to initiate a struggle against neo-liberalism and against the loss of sovereignty of our nations, because without sovereignty there can be no real democracy. *
11 International Viewpoint #268 July 1995
Interviews with representatives of the Uruguayan Tupamaros, Brazilian PT and Cuban CP