MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Parallel “People's Summit” in Chile to address inequality

Ptes. Chavez, Ortega and Morales

Chilean officials confirmed this week in Santiago the attendance of Hugo Chavez, Evo Morales, and Daniel Ortega at this week's Summit of Friendship and Integration of Latin American Peoples, also known as the People's Summit.

This news comes as Santiago prepares to host the leaders of 22 nations during Iberian-American leadership conference, which will coincide with the People's summit. During the announcement of the Summit agenda, supporters indicated the goal of the event is to counter-balance the discussion occurring during the Ibero-American meeting of world political leaders. "To us, it is legitimate and democratic that during a conference where 22 heads of state will meet among themselves, citizen movements can also have a forum," said Socialist Party Senator Alejandro Navarro. "This popular meeting will appropriately frame the Iberian-American summit because without citizen's voices, it would not be complete. For that reason, we are very happy Santiago will host this people's conference which will foster a debate we consider essential." The "People's Summit" will run from November 7-10 and features a series of forums on topics as diverse as sexism and environmental justice. It is the fourth such summit to be held in Latin America. According to organizers, the goal of the parallel conference is to create dialogue about problems they say are rooted in neo-liberal economic models, while giving activists a forum to network. "During this meeting we want to analyze the causes of injustice our people live in and understand the limitations on the policy debated during the Iberian-American Summit," read an official summit release. "We meet to advance the coordination of social activism in the country in order to obtain the change we want." Presidents Chavez of Venezuela, Morales of Bolivia, and Ortega of Nicaragua are expected to attend the summit's closing ceremonies on Saturday at Santiago's National Stadium Velodrome. Other heads of state are also expected, including Ecuadorian President Rafael Correra and Cuban Vice-President Carlos Lage. The presence of these popularly-elected left-wing leaders in Chile has raised considerable controversy among the more conservative elements of Chilean politicians. Independent Democratic Union (UDI) legislator Ivan Moreira vocally denounced Chavez's planned visit to Chile for the two summits, declaring Chavez intends to spread revolutionary sentiment across Latin America. "Chavez is a danger to Chile," said Moreira last Saturday. "He wants to ideologically invade and impose the Bolivarian revolution in all of Latin America and in democratically healthy countries, like Chile." Organizers of the "People's Summit," however, said the event had no malicious intent and was merely an opportunity for activists to gather and work towards their policy goals. "This is an open, democratic, and also revolutionary conference," said Senator Navarro. "There will be the deep revolutionary sentiment that there is a way to make your dreams come true, and that is done by working hard and working together". The Santiago Times