Cartagena 2012 Summit of the Americas
The sixth Summit of the Americas which brings together the Presidents of the 34 countries of the continent will be held in Cartagena, Colombia, on April 14 and 15, 2012.
Click here to read on the History of the Summits of the Americas
The Summit in Cartagena 2012 is entitled “Connecting the Americas: partners for prosperity”, and its objective is to “define the agenda” of the Americas for the coming years. A similar announcement preceded the Summit of Trinidad 2009, attended by the newly elected President Barack Obama, who in his speech promised a new kind of relationship with Latin America. The theme of the Summit was “securing the future of our people by promoting human prosperity, energy security and environmental sustainability”.
Without a doubt Obama frustrated expectations, advanced in the militarization of the hemisphere, supported the coup d’etat in Honduras and continues to support the illegitimate regime of Porfirio Lobo. Obama further radicalized the “war on drugs”, did not eliminate sanctions against Cuba, nor proposed changes in immigration laws. The U.S. President has continued to pursue Washington’s hegemonic approach, thus his efforts to strengthen the OAS, entrench strategies of military dominance in the region and sabotage the efforts of bodies such as ALBA, Unasur, and the Organization of Latin America and Caribbean States (OEALC) to integrate independently of the United States.
For all these reasons, the sixth Summit of the Americas 2012, is an opportunity to question the nature of the relationship between the United States and the region which has not been based, as promised by Obama, on “mutual respect and cooperation.” It is also an opportunity for the OAS to acknowledge that countries which have taken greater economic and political distance from the United States have obtained better results in terms of development and general social welfare.
Social movements from the entire region will be gathering at a People’s Summit in Cartagena, from April 12-14, “to debate and build, with our sisters and brothers in the Americas, a joint position on the hemispheric relations and the role of US policy, submit our requests to our governments, demand that in the VI Summit our positions are debated and denounce Washington’s militaristic policy.”
Participants at the Cartagena People’s Summit will have the opportunity to participate in conferences, workshops, and art-based non-violent actions. For more information or if you want to attend, contact Susana Pimiento at spimiento@forusa.org.
For more information, articles and videos (in Spanish) you can also check the People’s Summit website.
Click here to read about efforts to bring peace on the war on drugs at the Cartagena summit.
People’s Summit Program
For the fifth consecutive time, the People’s Summit of the Americas will parallel to the Summit of the Americas. This event differs in theme from the civil society Summit organized by the governments. It is a Summit of social movements seeking to solidify a position regarding the most important problems of the continent.
It will take place in Cartagena, Colombia and will be centralized in the INEM, located in the on El Bosque, Almirante Colon. Sessions will run Thursday April 12 to 14 and be structured in the following manner:
General Program:
Thursday, April 12:
8:00 AM: Installation of the People’s Summit of the Americas
9:00 AM – 5:00 PM: Activities by theme, developed through forums, panels, workshops, conferences, audiovisual projections and others.
Development Model: Large-scale mining, megaprojects, transnational inversion, education
Integration: Cuba, alternative processes and human rights
Militarization and Human Rights: Criminalization of social protests, the war on drugs, military bases throughout the continent.
Climate Change: Green economics and Rio+20
Land, territory and food sovereignty
Free Trade Agreement: Negotiations, impacts and implementation
Economic crisis
Friday, April 13:
9:00 AM – 5:00 PM: Social organization meetings and other topics of interest:
Women
Education
Ecumenism
Labor Rights
Human Rights Victims
Mining
Cartagena, model of inequality
Political Parties, social movements and left-leaning governments
Cuban Solidarity
Saturday, April 14: Bernardo Caraballo Coliseum
10:00 AM People’s Assembly: People’s Summit insurrection approval. Discussion with presidents of left-leaning governments (to be confirmed).
2:00 PM: March
