Is there socially inclusive development without democracy?

Together with other organizations in the region, CADAL organized an alternative forum to the Assembly of the OAS in Asuncion, Paraguay, with speakers from Paraguay, Bolivia, Cuba and Venezuela. The meeting took place in a downtown hotel and following topics were discussed: “Deficit of democracy in Latin America. Which is the role of the OAS?”; “Youth people demand democracy and development for Cuba and Venezuela” and “The Inter American system in protection of the Human Rights”.

Parallel to the General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS) in Asuncion, Paraguay, CADAL, the Youth Latin American Network for Democracy in Cuba, the Center for Advanced Studies of Paraguay (CAEP), the Mesa de Diálogo de la Juventud Cuban and the Latin American and Caribbean Center for Democracy and Development (CELCADEM) organized the international forum “Is there socially inclusive development without democracy? : a challenge for the OAS”

The introductory speech was given by Mario Paz Castaing, of the Patria Querida party and then Gabriel Salvia, chairman of the Center for the Opening and the Development of Latin America (CADAL), Argentina; Senator Luis Pedraza Cerda, Bolivia; and journalist Benjamín Fernández Bogado, Paraguay, spoke about “Deficit of democracy in Latin America. Which is the role of the OAS?”. This panel was moderated by Pilar Callizo.

In the second panel under the topic “Youth people demand democracy and development for Cuba and Venezuela” spoke Kirenia Nuñez, Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation, Cuba; Veizant Boloy, Legal Information Center Cubalex, Cuba; Ana Karina García, student movement, Venezuela; and Rodrigo Medina, executive director of CAEP, Paraguay. This panel was moderated by José María Ayala.

In the last panel the Paraguayan politician Hugo Estigarribia Gutierrez of the Colorado party, and Sebastián Acha, of the Patria Querida party, talked about “The Inter American system in protection of the Human Rights”. The forum was closed with words by Fernando Pfannl, of the Liberal Party and the former Ambassador of Paraguay in the US, and the Venezuelan Nazly Escalona, of the Youth Latin American Network for Democracy in Cuba.