MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Maduro urges like-minded regional leaders to seize the opportunity

Maduro also praised Hebe de Bonafini for her struggle in the defense of human rights

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro urged his fellow leftwing Latin American leaders to seize the opportunity to strengthen regional integration and “agree on the construction of a common economic space” and of “a common monetary system.”

Maduro described the current scenario as “a great opportunity to build our new independence, to build new democracies, to put an end to the neoliberal model and to give rights to education, health, work and food to our peoples.”

“There has to be a change of attitude in all the rulers of America, we have to look inward to our America with great strength again, there has to be a change in our behavior to hear each other, to understand each other,” Maduro stressed.

He also underlined Brazil's President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva's proposal to host the 2025 Climate Change COP30 Summit. “We say to Lula that we agree with an urgent political summit to save the Amazon, to recover, regenerate and reforest the Amazon, this is a great point of the progressive agenda,” Maduro said.

Meanwhile, the Sao Paulo Forum (FSP) of progressive leaders gathering in Caracas during the weekend laid out the group's roadmap for the year 2023. The Sao Paulo Forum is a Latin American political platform integrated by left and center-left parties and forces of the region.

FSP Executive Secretary Monica Valentte of Brazil said that on January 28 they will hold activities in commemoration of Cuban national hero Jose Marti, after which the leaders are to convene in Buenos Aires, Argentina, during the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) presidential Summit.

The next meeting working group meeting has been scheduled for Bogota, Valentte announced.

Also speaking in public during the weekend, Maduro praised Mothers of Plaza de Mayo leader Hebe de Bonafini for her fight role in Argentine history as a human rights advocate. Bonafini passed away Sunday, aged 93.

Maduro said in a radio interview that she had been “loved, admired, and respected in all parts of the world” because she embodied “the essence of the struggle.”

“Hebe will be remembered for a long time, forever, as a companion of struggle, we will carry her in our hearts and she will be with us giving us her advice,” Maduro added.

(Source: Xinhua)