by Paolo Menchi –
The Ibero-American conference was inaugurated in the Dominican Republic with the surprise announcement of the participation of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, previously excluded from the various summits because he was considered a dictator, above all by the USA but also by other countries in the region, after the disputed elections in 2018 which had followed a failed attempt by the US-backed opposition to overthrow the Venezuelan government which had eventually even managed to strengthen itself.
The rise to power in Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Argentina of left-wing coalitions has made the climate less hostile towards Maduro who, in any case, is not recognized as legitimate president by Ecuador, Paraguay and Spain.
Salvadoran Bukele and Nicaraguan Ortega are excluded due to the authoritarian drift of their governments.
The issues that will be addressed are linked to the serious problems that the region’s economy suffers from the consequences of the pandemic first and then of the war in Ukraine, which brought growth forecasts to a very low level.
Unfortunately, in the Latin American region the rate of extreme poverty is still very high and for large sections of the population it is difficult to access basic foods and fundamental rights.
At the basis of the situation there is also the search for a certain political stability that is always not very widespread, just think of the problems that have arisen recently in Peru with the arrest of President Castillo or what is happening these days in Ecuador where Guillermo Lasso risks having to leave the presidency.
A fundamental theme that will be addressed concerns the protection of the environment, cooperation agreements will have to be sought to address the problem of climate change and pollution of the seas.
Surely much space will also be given to the management of emigration which sees Latin America as one of the areas of the world most affected by the phenomenon and which has seen what has been considered the largest emigration in history with the abandonment of one’s own country by part of seven million Venezuelans (official UN data) in a few years.
The region is also a crossroads for emigrants seeking a new life in the United States, which has contributed to the emergence of a series of criminal organizations specializing in human trafficking, willing to pay large sums with hope, often frustrated by premature death , to reach what appears to be the promised land.
Greater control by individual governments of these phenomena would be desirable, tolerated thanks to the corruption of the local police forces that allow traffickers to manage a business that is becoming almost as profitable as that of drugs.
