Letter to the Presidents and Heads of State: Latin America and the Caribbean

Dear Presidents and Heads of State,
 
            We are writing to you in regard to the upcoming celebration in New York, on June 1 to 3, of the United Nations’ Conference on the Economic and Financial Crisis and its Impact on Develoment.  We urge you to give this Conference the priority it deserves and to participate, in your capacity as Heads of State, leading a delegation from your country of the highest level including the participation of relevant ministries and civil society organizations and movements involved in addressing the impacts and building alternatives in the face of this crisis.
 
Your presence and the active participation of the governments that you head in this Conference, which will bring together all of the United Nations members states – the “G192” – are necessary in order to achieve urgent and concrete responses that are in keeping with the seriousness of the global systemic crisis now confronting humanity.  A crisis unleashed in the center of the system of economic and political power whose unsustainable and irresponsible model of consumption and production continues to asphixiate the entire planet, deepening day after day the social, climate, food, and energy crises with untold consecuences for billions of people, nature, and indeed life itself.
 
The responses thus far emerging from exclusive groups such as the G7 and the G20, and the very private, public, and multilateral financial institutions whose still impune responsibility for the generation of this crisis is flagrant, are responses aimed at saving the system on the backs of the same people and countries who have been paying the costs of its expansion for a long time.
 
In order to achieve global solutions, the strength and legitimacy are needed that can only be secured through global participation and respect for the voice of all countries in equal conditions.  Therein lies the importance of this Conference at this moment, so that through the United Nations the entire international community – governments and “we the peoples” – might occupy our rightful place and reach agreement on immediate responses that can protect human and enviromental rights against any further deterioration and lead, over the medium term, to the building of a new paradigm of socio-economic, financial, and environmental relations at the global level.
 
The leadership of the current president of the UN General Assembly, together with the support of the majority of member countries, has made it possible for this Conference to be held.  They have generated valuable inputs, including the recommendations of the Commission of Experts on the Reform of the International Monetary and Financial System, and a Draft Outcome Declaration that includes concrete proposals for consideration and adoption by participating States. Among other matters, they recognize the responsibility of the centers of power in the North for this crisis and pose immedate steps to establish a global stimulus fund that would not imply a new burden of illegitimate debt for those countries most in need.  They recommend stopping, and reversing, the nefarious conditionalities imposed by the International Financial Institutions and in free trade agreements and investment protection treaties.  Agreement on these and many other proposals can and should be reached at this Conference.
 
This Conference is where we want the governments of the countries of our region to participate, at the highest level, committing your leadership as part of the international community in defense of our needs and rights and those of Mother Earth.  The existence of initiatives towards an integration in solidarity that are now advancing in Latin America and the Caribbean, such as ALBA, the Peoples’ Trade Agreements (TCP), the South Bank, the Union of South American Nations, the creation of a common reserve currency (SUCRE), comprehensive debt audits, among others, demonstrates that it possible to build alternatives for a development that is endogenous, sovereign, democratic, and sustainable.
 
At the same time, we reiterate our conviction with regard to the importance of calling on and including social movements and organizations, in order to debate and build together the ways out of this crisis – a crisis understood by many to be a truly grave crisis of civilization that is placing at risk the survival of all peoples and that of life itself on earth.
 
 
Sincerely,
(Initial signatures)
 
Latin America and Caribbean movements, networks and organizations
Alianza de Pueblos del Sur Acreedores de la Deuda Ecológica–América latina/Caribe
Amigos de la Tierra - América Latina Y Caribe (ATALC)
Asamblea de los Pueblos de Caribe
Confederación Sindical de las Américas
Consejo Latinoamericano de Iglesias – Secretaría regional Rio de la Plata
Federación Luterana Mundial-Programa sobre Deuda Ilegítima
Grito de los/las Excluidos Continental
Jubileo Sur/Américas
Observatorio Internacional de la Deuda – América Latina
Oilwatch-Sudamérica
Red Latinoamericana sobre la Deuda y el Desarrollo (Latindadd)
Servicio Paz y Justicia en América Latina
 
 
National movements, networks, and organizations from throughout the region
Diálogo 2000 – Argentina
Ecoportal.Net - Argentina
Espacio Ecuménico - Argentina
Fundación Servicio Paz y Justicia – Argentina
Futuro Transgenerico – Argentina
Grito de los excluidos (as) Bolivia
Movimiento antiracista Boliviano
Jóvenes por la Constituyente Bolivia
CEADL Bolivia
Movimiento de Objetores de conciencia Bolivia
Observatorio Boliviano dfe los Recursos naturales Bolivia
Rede Social de Justiça e Direitos Humanos, Brasil
Corporación Mujeres y Economía - Jubileo Sur Colombia
Centro Memorial Dr. Martin Luther King,Jr. - Cuba
Centro de Derechos Economicos y Sociales – Ecuador
Jubileo 2000 Red Guayaquil - Ecuador
Movimiento Mexicano de Afectados por las Presas y en Defensa de los Rios –México
Red Jubileo Sur México
Colectivo Marea Creciente – México
Red Jubileo Perú – Perú
Grito de las/os Excluidas/os de Puerto Rico
Comité Pro Niñez Dominico-Haitiana-Puerto Rico
Proyecto Caribeño de Justicia y Paz – Puerto Rico
 
 
 

JUBILEO SUR / AMÉRICAS
Piedras 730
(1070) Buenos Aires, Argentina
T/F +5411-43071867
jubileosur@wamani.apc.org
www.jubileosuramericas.org
www.jubileesouth.org