Hector Moncayo is a member of the Latin American Institute for an Alternative Society and an Alternative Law (ILSA) and in such capacity he is a member of the organizing committee of the Peoples’ Summit that will be held during the weekend as an alternative to the presidents’ summit, at the initiative of the Hemispheric Social Alliance.
Moncayo analyzed in detail the implications of the 6th Americas Summit, born out of the deceased Free Trade Alliance for the Americas (FTAA), of which some countries, like Cuba, are excluded. This attitude is rejected by social movements and also by Ecuador’s president Rafael Correa, who decided not to attend as a way of expressing his disagreement.

The Peoples’ Summit will be held from Thursday 12 until Saturday 14 of April to debate and propose solutions to the region’s real problems, unlike the “social summit”, which is organized by the Colombian government in order to “control” the civil society voices.

On Thursday, there will be discussions on the development model, integration, militarization and human rights, climate change, “green economy”, land, territory and food sovereignty, free trade agreements and the economic crisis.

On Friday, women organizations, students, churches, trade unions, human rights advocates will meet to address different issues.

All this will finish on April 14 with a Peoples’ Summit declaration to be taken before the president’s forum in a social demonstration in the streets of Cartagena de Indias, which has been fenced to implement strong security measures.

Moncayo said that even though the Peoples Summits were created in the 90s in opposition to the FTAA, its goal continues to be looking for alternatives to the neoliberal system.

Photo: prensalibre.com