Declaration by members of EUROLAT about current events

(Translated by Stacey Schlau, a CSN Volunteer Translator. Edited by Teresa Welsh, CSN's Volunteer Editor.)

RE: Attempted coup, wellbeing, TLC, migration, human rights, regional integration, environment

We, members of the Parliaments PARLATINO, PARLANDINO, PARLASUR, PARLACEN and the European Parliament, met in Cuenca, Ecuador, November 3-5, 2010, in the context of the IV Meeting of the Commissions of the Euro-Latin American Assembly (EuroLat):

1.     We declare our complete support of democratically elected governments and condemn coups d'etat that have overthrown or threatened to overthrow legitimately elected governments, with the support of mass media concentrated in certain economic groups. Therefore, we support the government of President Correa of Ecuador and condemn the attempted coup that occurred on September 30, 2010.

2.     We agree that the free trade agreements signed between the European Union and Latin America are rooted in the primary matrix of export that has predominated in the history of Latin America. The focus on "insertion" into the world market limits the possibilities of structuring new visions of sustainable development, such as the one in use in several Andean countries, known as "Wellbeing." The agreed-upon treaties are asymmetrical; above all, they benefit the interests of the European Union in the region, while for Central America, Colombia, and Peru the advantages translate into the consolidation of access to markets already available through the European Union under SPG plus. At the same time socio-environmental conflicts are intensifying in the region. We invite all Parliamentarians involved in the ratification of the agreements in Europe, Central America, Colombia, and Peru to participate in public discussion about the social, ecological, and economic impact of these agreements, and to vote accordingly: NO to the ratification of agreements that undermine the social, economic, cultural, and environmental interests of the peoples of the Andean and Central American regions.

3.     We condemn the criminalization of social movements of women and indigenous peoples, defenders of human rights and community leaders, and invite the European Parliament to absolutely ensure human rights in the negotiation and ratification of free trade agreements.

4.     We underscore the importance of novel ideas for the protection of the environment and struggle against climactic change, in which there is compensation for not polluting, not extracting, and not destroying. Therefore, we invite our governments in Latin America, the European Union, and its member states, to support the Yasuni ITT fund and we call for Support of the Declaration of Cochabamba on climactic change.

5.     We think that the Euro-Latin American assembly should be a motivator for member states to improve participation in their respective processes of integration, within the framework of their institutionality. Therefore we salute the new process of regional integration of UNASUR, as well as the new contributions by the PARLACEN and we also affirm our support of new concepts of financial architecture, like the Bank of the South.

 
6.  Acknowledging that our continents have been regions of emigration and immigration for centuries, we call for integrated migration policies and in that respect, for human beings to be at the center of such policies. We declare our complete rejection of the criminalization and stigmatization of migrants, and reiterate that all migrants, no matter their immigrant status, have all rights guaranteed by the Universal Pacts.

Signatories:

Gloria Inez Flórez (PARLANDINO, Colombia)

Jürgen Klute (PARLAMENTO EUROPEO, Alemania)

Dorindo Cortez (PARLACEN, Panamá)

Angel Barchini (PARLASUR, Paraguay)

Sonia Escudero (PARLATINO, Argentina)

Rebeca Delgado (PARLANDINO, Bolivia)

Silvia García (PARLACEN, Republica Dominicana)

José Bayardi (PARLASUR, Uruguay)

Ulrike Lunacek (PARLAMENTO EUROPEO, Austria)

Everardo de León (PARLACEN, Panamá)

Helmut Scholz (PARLAMENTO EUROPEO, Alemania)

Raul Patiño (PARLANDINO, Ecuador)

Francisco Lopez (PARLACEN, Guatemala)

Elsa Malpartida (PARLANDINO, Perú)

Lloyd Bushey (PARLACEN, Nicaragua)

Catherine Grèze (PARLAMENTO EUROPEO, Francia)

Bertila Espinoza (PARLACEN, Honduras)

Paulo Tóffano (PARLASUR, Brazil)

Eliseo Fabio Nuñez (PARLACEN, Nicaragua)

Rodolfo Dougherty (PARLACEN, Guatemala)

Jacinto Suárez (PARLACEN, Nicaragua)

Cecilia Castro (PARLANDINO, Ecuador)

William Hernández (PARLACEN, Salvador)

Patricio Zambrano (PARLANDINO, Ecuador)

Jose Huerta (PARLACEN, Panamá)

Cuenca, Ecuador, November 5, 2010

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