|
President Oscar Arias Urges
Latin American Nations to Prod
Cuba Toward Democracy
By Pablo Bachelet,
MiamiHerald.com
Costa Rican President Oscar
Arias launched The Miami Herald
Americas Conference Wednesday
evening with an impassioned plea
to Latin American nations to
spurn populism and urge Cuba to
take a democratic path.
''Latin America has reached a
crossroads,'' the Nobel Peace
Prize winner told a dinner
gathering at the Biltmore Hotel.
''It can consolidate the gains
that it has made through
economic integration with the
world, or it can slide
backwards,'' he said, ``falling
captive to populist rhetoric and
to the shrill voices of those
who see globalization as the
root of all evil.''
AriasThe Costa Rican leader
narrowly won an election earlier
this year on a platform of
joining a free trade agreement
with the United States and four
other nations. Although he
didn't single out Venezuelan
President Hugo Chávez, Chávez
has been a critic of trade pacts
with Washington.
But Arias' bluntest language was
directed at Cuba, making him the
most outspoken Latin American
leader on events unfolding in
Havana after Fidel Castro was
pronounced ill on July 31 and
replaced temporarily by his
brother Raúl.
Latin America, he said, can
strengthen its democratic
institutions and ``join together
with one voice of hope so that
the Cuban people can enjoy the
liberty that has been denied to
them.''
His remarks came after Arias
wrote an opinion piece in the La
Nación newspaper of San José,
Costa Rica, on Aug. 29, urging
Cuba to embrace democracy. No
other Latin American nation has
so far joined Arias in calling
for democratic reforms in
Havana.
He said Cuba was, ''plain and
simple, a dictatorship'' that
had ''robbed the Cuban people of
their liberty'' and ``condemned
to poverty a nation that could
very well have been the first
developed nation in Latin
America.''
He said countries like India and
other Asian economic powers, as
well as Chile, had developed
more and reduced poverty by
embracing globalization and
Latin America needed to do the
same.
He proposed the ''Costa Rica
Consensus,'' to forgive debt and
provide financial assistance to
countries that spend more on
education, health and housing
and less on ``soldiers and
weapons.''
He said the region needed to
``abandon the sterile debates,
the excuses and the tall tales
of the past.''
The two-day Americas Conference
will look at Latin America's
role in the global economy.
|
|
