| | |  Americas & Beyond 
Calderón: LatAm Needs to Form a Common Front
 María del Carmen Martínez - The News
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February 23, 2010
| | New Latin America group likely to emerge at summit . | |
Riviera Maya – The President of Mexico, Felipe Calderón, asked Latin American leaders on Monday to form a single common front in the Caribbean region, as the challenges of the future do not emanate from the political left or right but concern the principles of democracy.
At the Unity Summit of Latin America and the Caribbean, which seeks to create an alternative mechanism to the Organization of American States (OEA) without the United States and Canada, the Mexican President declared that nations could not continue to work separately.
“I sincerely think that the challenge we have to face as a region is not a question of leftist or rightist politics; rather, it is a compromise between the past and the future, a future in which the values of democracy, justice and liberty can flourish,” Calderón stated.
Speaking to 24 leaders, including the presidents of Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, Bolivia and Chile, Calderón said he was convinced that in working together, Latin American countries could encourage economic growth and reverse poverty, social disparity and inequality.
The President of Uruguay, Tabaré Vázquez, said that the integration of Latin America requires new institutions that should be built collectively and peacefully.
The president urged all countries and all presidents to make an effort to genuinely integrate, because in the process “there are no short cuts and no miracles.”
President Vázquez said that he agrees with creating a new institution that would bring closer all the countries of the region. He said “we are not starting from scratch.” The name of the institution, he continued, is not what matters, what really matters, are results.
Similarly, the president said that concrete actions that are already underway should be multiplied in order to give clear and definite benefits to the people of the region.
Argentine President Cristina Fernandez said Latin American leaders backed her objections to oil exploration in the British-controlled Falkland islands, as the first well began drilling on Monday.
Argentina lost control of the islands, called the Malvinas in Spanish, in a war with Britain in 1982 but still claims the territory and says the oil drilling by British firm Desire Petroleum is a breach of sovereignty.
“There continues to be systematic violation of international law that should be respected by all countries,” Fernandez said. “In the name of our government and in the name of my people I am grateful ... for the support this meeting has given to our demands,” Fernandez added.
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