Elisabeth Ungar (Congreso Visible), Carl Gershman (President of NED), Dr. Juan Carlos Navarro (Panama's Mayor),
Dr. Alejandro Toledo (Peru's Former President) and Ambassador Jose Herran Lima (Canada)

Weak democratic institutions and a failure to improve the quality of life for millions have ushered in a new era of populism and authoritarianism in Latin America. The result: a step back for the rule of law and democracy. Human rights and democracy organizations have stepped in to confront this challenge, but without a platform for exchanging ideas and coordinating activities, successes are only short-lived.

To help fill this gap, the first meeting of the Latin American Democracy Network was held in Panama City, Panama. More than 140 leaders from non-governmental organizations, unions, judiciaries, and the public sector came together for the February 29 to March 1 forum. Participants identified how to consolidate the network so that it could defend and advance democratic practices in the region.

The New Network

All the participants voted for the creation of a new independent network but connected with the World Movement for Democracy. Representatives were elected to represent their countries and their Sub-regions in the Network. The challenge now is to effectively promote democratic values, protect civil society and launch new initiatives and coordinated efforts.

Democracy and Development

The meeting provide and opportunity for the open exchange of ideas and experiences. The Mayor of Panama, Mr. Juan Carlos Navarro, introduced the importance of participatory democracy and how the political parties, NGOs, unions and all the sectors of civil society must work together for the common good. Former Peruvian President Toledo in the inaugural speech explained why democracy and development must walk hand by hand saying “if we are not capable of reducing poverty, we will be encouraging cheap populism, which does serious damage to democracy”. Mr. Carl Gershman from the National Endowment for Democracy launched an urgent appeal for more and better democracy and to stop the backlash in the region. In the same order of ideas, US Congressman Gregory Meeks showed his support for the free agreements and the integration of effort among all the actors in the region and requested democratic agendas with “social faces”, he also congratulated the involvement of student movements strengthening democracy in cases like Venezuela.

Role of Women

Special attention in the Assembly to the role of women in Latin American countries were in place with a special session in the introductory open forum with a special panel with women leaders from the whole region. It was an opportunity to share improvements and needs in the region.  They agree that women voice and participation it is not a gift from the structures in power, it is a right and a fundamental tool if we want to achieve real sustainable development and stabled democracies.

Priorities in our Agenda

The participants were actively involved in open discussion in Topical workshops and after hour’s meetings. Topical workshops included: Democracy and Role of Women, Ethnic Minorities and Young Groups: Interactive role and challenges; Governance, Democracy, Development and Consequences of Social Exclusion: Poverty, inequity and difficulties of current institutions to fulfill social requirements of democracy; Challenges of Business Sectors to promote democracy and support civil society Sector; among others. The participants developed new approaches to new and old problems and how NGOs, unions, political parties and leaders must renovated them to be ready to face tremendous challenges.