Buenos Aires hosts Puebla Group second meeting, an alliance of political leaders who seek to build a progressive agenda in Latin America and resume the paths of integration, broken for years by the presence of governments of the extreme rightwing.
This group, therefore, does not want to establish itself as an antagonist of the Lima Group, of which the Governments of twelve countries of Latin America in addition to Canada are part, and therefore, does not seek confrontation, but to contribute to the process of recomposition of the progressive forces, Ominami clarified.
“The purpose of the meeting in Buenos Aires`s to continue building, among all, a progressive agenda that identifies and brings us together,” said former Colombian president Ernesto Samper, who isn`t considered precisely progressive but was the first president of the Union of South American Nations (Unasur).
The host of this second meeting is the elected president of Argentina, Alberto Fernández. Also present are former presidents Dilma Rousseff (Brazil), José “Pepe” Mujica (Uruguay), Fernando Lugo (Paraguay), Ernesto Samper (Colombia), José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (Spain) as well as the Vice President of Bolivia, Álvaro García Linera, and Daniel Martínez (candidate of the Frente Amplio who will compete in the ballot in Uruguay)
Fernández remarked what the group proposes “are alternatives to what has prevailed in recent years, for example, in Argentina, and is the search to rediscover a political system that returns lost equity, balance and social equality in Latin America”
“The forum seeks to integrate channels of communication and work between leaders throughout Latin America with a progressive look and in respect to institutionality and democracy,” he summarized.
The first meeting of this new international forum was held from July 12 to 14 in Puebla (Mexico). On that occasion, 30 leaders from 12 countries agreed to join forces and proposals to crystallize an axis to “produce regional consensus and politically articulate progressivism”.
The Puebla Forum seems to be an alternative to the Lima Group, made up of representatives of conservative governments not only from Latin America, but also has the presence of US ambassadors. and Canada Its anti-Venezuelan posture is known and in favor of the isolation of Venezuela.
This second meeting is expected to generate collective pronouncements on the situations which Venezuela, Chile, Ecuador, Bolivia and Haiti are currently going through. The conclusions emanating from the event, however, will be known at a press conference on Sunday.
“We postulate peace, dialogue and self-determination, which are principles recognized by the United Nations. No government can be offended by that,” Enriquez-Ominami said.
“We are going to show the progressives’ cohesion as it had not been seen for a long time. It is becoming clear that neoliberalism did not work.”
