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November 2014
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“Latin America and the Caribbean must go back to the many, many successes that we had in the past decade,” Secretary General Insulza said before a university audience on October 7 in the complex's Lecture Theatre E, “but at the same time recognise we are faced with many challenges in a time in which the world economy will not be as favourable to us as it was in the past decade.” The OAS head was speaking at The UWI as part of the university's Distinguished Lecture Series. Apart from Secretary General Insulza, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Dookeran, The UWI Pro Vice Chancellor and Campus Principal Clement K. Sankat and Director of the Institute of International Relations Professor Andy Knight, spoke as well. “In the past decade, I would put that decade from 2003-2012, our countries achieved a combination of high growth, macroeconomic stability, poverty reduction, even some improvement on income distribution. And democracy became the normal form of government all over the Americas,” the Secretary General said. He pointed to the effects of “unexpected and incredible economic growth” which was more than that of the two previous decades combined. At the beginning of the 21st century, 43.2% of the region's people lived below the poverty line, Insulza described. Today that figure has been whittled down to 28.8% with around 70 million people crossing over the poverty line. Alongside these economic and social strides were political stability and democratic governance, Insulza added: “It is around 25 years that the last dictatorships ended in Latin America and around 20 years that the civil wars ended. The result is well-known. We should not lose sight of that. When we came to Trinidad some years ago for the Summit of the Americas, every elected leader sitting at that table had been elected democratically. These have been two impressive decades of democracy.” Challenging conditions Despite all this progress however, the Secretary General spent the second portion of his lecture highlighting several challenges to the Caribbean and Latin America's well-being across the economic, social and political landscapes. Challenges, he says, which make the region's democratic systems vulnerable. Insulza pointed to a slowdown in the region's average economic performance. Regional economies’ growth figure fell from 6.1% in 2010 to 2.75% in 2013, with a projected figure of under 2% for 2014. “The economies that are slowing down have slowed down faster and the economies that are supposed to grow, have grown less than they should have,” he said. “I should say that the Caribbean, with very few exceptions, has experienced relatively low growth; the result of the same competitiveness problems that are largely shared by many countries in the hemisphere.” Insulza said one of the core economic productivity and competitiveness issues was the growth of the middle class through people moving out of poverty and the increased expectations of these people for greater equity in their working and living conditions. “There was a time unfortunately when some governments felt the best way to increase competitiveness was to reduce wages and cut down on staff. Now we know that’s not possible. Most people would not stand for that. Therefore the issue here is education, science and technology. Latin America and the Caribbean still invest one fifth of what OECD countries do in science and technology,” he said. The Secretary General pinpointed three areas that could hinder or damage democratic systems in the Americas: Inequality – “Despite the decline in poverty, we are still the most unequal region in the world.... It is impossible to grow and have a democratic society in a region in which the degree of inequality is as high as ours. A lack of social mobility, lack of opportunity, are incompatible with democratic rule.” Violence – “Some of our countries are some of the most violent in the world. This is a problem for democracy.... We have segments in our society (the poorer parts) that are governed by different rules.” Lack of consensus on moving society forward – “Many of our countries do not have a general consensus in the political area on to move forward. Where do we want to go? What is our national view? What role is our country going to play in our region first and then in the world.” Secretary General Insulza also spoke of the need for political campaign finance reform, which he said, was necessary to protect regional democracies from the perverting influence of wealthy campaign donors. He also stressed the need – more important than ever – for economic unity: “Our markets are our main opportunity. It is no longer necessary but absolutely imperative that we undertake serious regional integration. We have to create powerful internal markets to help us withstand external economic pressures.” Despite the challenges however, Secretary General Insulza voiced optimism for the region's ability to face the challenging environment: “We have much better possibilities. We have stronger economies. We have stronger democracies. We have an improved condition of our people.” |
Ten years of growth, economic stability and democratic governance was how José Miguel Insulza, Secretary General of the Organisation of American States (OAS), described the fortunes of the Caribbean and Latin America. Speaking at the Teaching and Learning Complex of The UWI St. Augustine Campus, the OAS Secretary General focused on both region's remarkable progress and the numerous and critical challenges it faces today and into the future.