SPEECH BY THE PRESIDENT OF BOLIVIA LUIS ARCE CATACORA AT THE VI SUMMIT OF THE COMMUNITY OF LATIN AMERICAN STATES AND CARIBE (CELAC) HELD IN MEXICO CITY ON SEPTEMBER 18, 2021

 

Marcelo Ebrard Casaubón. -

Mr. President, we begin the participation  of  30 members  of  member countries, present today in that session of  CELAC, and I welcome,to start thisconversation,  the President of Bolivia Luis Arce  Catacora, because following the agreed alphabetical order, it is up to him to make the  First intervention and also just arrived from  a  trip,all  night, to address you and participate isteday many, thank you President, welcome and you have the floor.

 

Luis Arce Catacora

Thank youvery much, Good morning to all, special greeting to our brother Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the president of the United Mexican States and president pro tempore of the Community of Latin American and CaribbeanStates, the president of the Council  anduropeo, sister Alicia Bárcena,  executive secretary of the Economic Commission P for Latin America(CEPAL)  to our brother presidents,  vice presidents, foreignministers, representatives of international organizations and other delegates present.

First of all, I would like to congratulate and thank you for the efforts made by you, President and the team of the Foreign Ministry,  in  the head of Brother Marcelo,  in the preparation of this Summit,  I am sure that through the cooperation of the States, we are achieving positive results for the common good of our countries.

Letme remember the beginnings of ourorganization,   CELAC  was  created in  2010 as a forumfor regionalintegration, a scenario in which the Organization of American States (OAS) lost  legitimacy due to several  factors,  among these,  the reactions of interference in Latin American democracies,today to so many years of this conception and materialization of these desires,it is clear that the situation has not changed,  the  OAS,  instead of acting under the mandates of the democratic charter, acts against the principles of democracy,  its growing interference in the affairs of States, does not contribute to the peaceful settlement of disputes,  but rather it generatesthem, it is an obsolete and ineffective organism that does not respond to the needs of our States, nor to the principles ofmultilateralism,  before this the need tostrengthen CELAC is clear,   the integration of our region is key to integrate us into the world, taking forward the principle of solidarity,  from the political transformation for the peoples and the  transformación social of our peoples, in order to contribute to the development of living well,  it is necessary to build together an integrated and equitable world from the diplomacy of the peoples for life,  for peace, for human rights and the rights of the  mother  land.

TheMember States havecome, especially motivated to  this meeting,  recognizing  the efforts being made by the pro tempore presidency of  CELAC,in order toadvance, intheeffective measures,    to achieve equity in termsof access tovaccines, so that we all overcome the pandemic  together.

Bgarlic the Mexican presidency,  the memberstates,  we have made great strides to strengthen our commitment to   this  end, this meeting of the highestlevel, is the sample of the political commitment of our countries, which is expressed in thes  declarations,  that today,  we areapproving,  thus strengthening trust between our nations, I highlight the political declaration built with the contribution of all,  of whose content I want to emphasize, the commitment to economic recovery, access to vaccines against covic-19 inclusive or equitable for all, as well as support for the production of our region and the important  initiative  to consolidate the Latin American and Caribbean space  gene among other commitments of great importance for our countries

Onthe other hand, we would like to thank Sister Alicia Bárcena, Executive Secretary of ECLAC, for the comprehensive health self-sufficiency plan, it is important to continue the work she contributes to the region, in the fight against the pandemic,  with information  and alternatives, in relation to the strengthening of our health system,the increase in   the  The production capacity of medicines and the reduction of external dependence, this is therefore one more of the axes in which we owe  the  integration and cooperation of our States.

Rwe eiteramos  the importance  and  urgency of vaccines for all and the release of patents  and urge your support to accelerate this process for the good of our peoples  and humanity.

If patentsare not  released, if the technology is notshared,  we will not reach   the goal of immunization in a timely manner and the  pandemic will end up taking more days.

De collapse our economies and disrupt our society and the political sphere, the multilateral international organizations, cooperation    agencies, can not forget the ultimate purpose for which they have been constituted, and the mission of contributing to the economic and social development of each of the countries, which have believed in the mechanisms of financial integration and in these bodies of ooperation,  such as  that institutions directly linked to global development in times of pandemic.

And we urge the same institutions to return to the elementary principles of their creation, the financial interest cannot be above the social interest and the health of the very life of human beings, life that to be rescued had to undertake a struggle that starts from each of the countries at the global level within the framework of their capacities and mainly their own resources,  Itis also necessary to address together with the international community actions in the economicfield,  facing  the economic contraction and the crisis,  from a global agreement that allows us to move towards the cancellation of external  debt,  both multilateraland bilateral,  for low-income countries, as well as the  suspension of payment for middle-income countries in search of economic recovery with a comprehensive and sustainable development approach,  as well as the democratic transformation of global financial bodies.

Mipaís,  having recovered democracy and the path to political stability,  seeks economic growth with social justice, working without pause in the community and productive social economic model  that  regainsthe potentialities and diversity of our population.

In14 years ofgovernment, we had sustained economic growth, accompanied by social and productive policies through income distribution policies, by the economic results  translated into improvements in the social field from 2005 to 2019 with the reduction of poverty and extreme poverty from 60  to  37% and from 38 to 12% respectively.

Itis a congratulations to the Mexican Government for the 200th anniversary of its independence and the 700 years of the Foundation of this capital  witha libertarian that today  welcomes us in sucha  worthy  event.

RWe pay tribute to the heroes of this dignified homeland and we celebrate these holidays United, congratulations Mexican brothers and sisters, At last, in the framework of strengthening of integrity regional, it is essential to discuss the transformation of the organization of American States, because it is indispensable  count  with a body operating in accordance with democratic practices, that is a space of convergence, articulation, meeting between countries and responding to the reality of Latin America and the Caribbean, respecting the principles of sovereignty of peoples and the non-interference in internal affairs of the states, Thanks a lot.

Transcription of voice to text by Francisco Javier Chaín Revuelta.