L. America world's most unjust region: OAS

[Judi Lynn]

UPDATED: 14:43, June 05, 2005
L. America world's most unjust region: OAS

Latin America is the most unjust region in the world, Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS) Jose Miguel Insulza said in an interview published on Saturday.

"Income distribution levels (in Latin America) are the most unequal in the world and there are 200 million persons living below the poverty line," said Insulza in the interview with Spanish daily El Pais.

Economic and social problems in the region are a "nesting ground for populism of easy solutions," he said.

It is necessary to have a "greater disposition" in the region to share the benefits of economic development, said Insulza, who on May 26 took up his post as head of the OAS for the next five years.
(snip/...)

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200506/05/eng20050605_188588.html

[Judi Lynn]

1. OAS leader says diplomats to discuss democracy, poverty

Posted on Sat, Jun. 04, 2005
OAS leader says diplomats to discuss democracy, poverty

JOHN PAIN
Associated Press

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - Top diplomats from every Western Hemisphere nation except Cuba will try to find ways to strengthen democracy and reduce poverty at their annual meeting, the head of the Organization of American States said Saturday.

OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza said diplomats from the 34 nations would try to create ways for the group to better monitor threats to democracy in order to stop them before governments are overthrown.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is chairing OAS General Assembly, which opens Sunday and runs through Tuesday in Fort Lauderdale. President Bush plans to speak here Monday about his push a reluctant Congress to approve a free-trade agreement with Central America and the Dominican Republic.
(snip/...)

http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee/news/breaking_news/11816602.htm

[cal04]

2. U.S. role in question as OAS comes of age

The backlash against the world's most powerful nation has been fueled by anger over the war in Iraq, disenchantment with U.S.-backed free-market reforms and the rise of a new generation of left-leaning Latin leaders unafraid to challenge Washington. A clear sign of those tensions came last month when, for the first time in its 57-year history, the OAS elected a secretary general -- Chile's Jose Miguel Insulza, a socialist -- who was not the handpicked candidate of the United States.

Although Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who will lead the Fort Lauderdale meeting, backed Insulza in the end, his victory was widely seen as a blow to American prestige.

Some observers charge the United States has become fixated on Chavez, and there are fears the OAS meeting could get mired in squabbles between representatives of the two countries.A recent report in The New York Times cited a U.S. proposal to create an OAS committee that would attempt to hold member governments accountable should they stray from the principles of democracy, an initiative seen by some as a clumsy swipe at Chavez.

Although specifics of the proposal are vague, experts say it could become a flash point at the assembly."If it gets defined as a Chavez versus Bush thing, other countries will back off," Shifter said. "They don't want to be seen as lackeys of the U.S."

http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/nation/11820698.htm

[orwell]

4. Fixated

The US is "fixated" wherever oil interests are concerned.

[Robbien]

5. Its a shame

The OAS could be an organization which could be a real player in reducing poverty in SA but the US will try to derail all converation except what it wants to talk about, the "March to Democracy".

[Vitruvius]

3. Latin America is also the region that has had the most CIA-sponsored coups

-- with the Middle East a close runner-up. And the Middle East is also one of the world's most unjust regions.

[dArKeR]

8. Just making slaves for the Southern White Man.

http://home.iprimus.com.au/korob/fdtcards/CentralAmerica.html

[Judi Lynn]

9. That's a great site,dArKeR.

There couldn't be a LESS democratic government anywhere in Latin America than one forced upon them by our own covert ops ordered by U.S. right-wing Presidents.

[K-W]

11. Gee, I wonder why these regions are unstable...

hmm, I dont know, better get the US more involved to fix it, right.

[MrPrax]

6. OAS credibility gap...

The one country in the region that has done much to address inequitable income distribution as well as dealt realistically with 'made in Latin America' solutions to economic and social problems, isn't even a member.

Maybe the OAS should take the opportunity to make their organization relevent by accepting Cuba back into the fold, so that they can at least learn a different perspective other than the single perspective dictated by a handful of bankers at the IMF.

Can't imagine that the irony is NOT missed by the 200 million cited

[dArKeR]

7. Urge to drop democracy grows in Latin America

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2004/06/28/2003176910

[K-W]

10. That headline is such a dirty lie.

They dont want to drop democracy, they want real democracy.

[Barkley]

12. and with Wolfowitz at the World Bank things will only get 'more unjust'

That's what former World Bank head and Noble Laureat Joe Stiglitz says.
I agree with his assessment.