OPEN LETTER FROM EVO MORALES Regarding EU's "Returns Directive"

[magbana]

Evo Morales on the EU "Returns Directive"
June 12, 2008 · No Comments

Open Letter from Evo Morales Regarding the European Union's "Returns Directive"

Evo Morales Ayma - Bolpress

Translation: Machetera

Until the end of the Second World War, Europe was a continent of emigrants. Tens of millions of Europeans left for the Americas in order to colonize, escape famine, financial crises, wars and European totalitarianism and the persecution of ethnic minorities. Today, I'm following the process of the so-called "Returns Directive" with concern. The text, approved on June 5th by the Interior Ministers of the European Union's 27 member countries, must be voted on in the European Parliament on June 18th. I feel that it drastically hardens the conditions for detention and expulsion of undocumented migrants, whatever their length of stay in the European countries, their work situation, their family ties, their will and their achievements at integration.


Europeans arrived en masse in the countries of Latin America and North America, without visas or conditions imposed by the authorities. They were always welcome, and they continue to be, in our countries on the American continent, which therefore absorb the economic misery of Europe and its political crises. They came to our continent to exploit its wealth and transfer it to Europe, with a very high cost for America's original population. Such is the case in our Cerro Rico, in Potosi, where the fabulous silver mines provided the European continent its coinage from the 16th to the 19th centuries. The goods and personal rights of the European migrants were always respected.

Today the European Union is the main destination for the world's migrants, as a consequence of its positive image as an area of prosperity and public freedom. The vast majority of the migrants come to the EU to contribute to this prosperity, not to take advantage of it. They occupy jobs in public works, construction, personal services and hospitals, which Europeans can't or don't wish to fill. They contribute to the European continent's dynamic demographic, to maintaining the relationship between the active and inactive that in turn makes possible its generous systems of social security, internal market stimulation and social cohesion. Migrants offer a solution to the EU's demographic and financial problems.

For us, our migrants represent the development aid that the Europeans don't give us - considering that few countries actually manage to achieve the minimum objective of 0.7% of their GDP in development aid. In 2006, Latin America received $68 billion dollars in remittances; more than the total foreign investment in our countries. At a world level, they reach $300 billion dollars, which surpasses the $104 billion dollars granted through the concept of development aid. My own country, Bolivia, received more than 10% of its GDP through remittances ($1.1 billion dollars), or a third of our annual natural gas exports.

This is to say that the migration flows are just as beneficial for the Europeans and marginally for those of us in the Third World, considering that we've also lost the equivalent of millions of skilled workers, in which our states, poor as they are, have invested human and financial resources in one way or another.

MORE - FULL ARTICLE;

http://machetera.wordpress.com/2008/06/12/evo-morales-on-the-eu-returns-directive/

Machetera is a member of Tlaxcala, the network of translators for linguistic diversity. This translation may be reprinted as long as the content remains unaltered, and the source, author, and translator are cited.

[Judi Lynn]

1. He's handling this problem VERY well. Good for him.

Hope he gets the opportunity to do some GOOD for the vast majority of Bolivians, and it will relieve much of the truly destructive imprint of the past.

Thanks, magbana.

[magbana]

2. I agree, Judi

With this letter, Pres. Morales, protects the dignity of his people and becomes a great statesman in the process.