Portugal, Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Uruguay sign this Monday, in Chile, a commitment to democracy and human rights, in the context of the 50th anniversary of the coup d’état by dictator Augusto Pinochet.
In the document “Commitment: For Democracy, Always”, the countries commit to “strengthen the spaces for collaboration between States through a mature multilateralism that respects differences, which establishes and pursues the common objectives necessary for development.” of our societies”, according to the text.
“It is a proposal from the Government of Chile based on an international document of the representations gathered here in Chile today, to assume the commitment that there will always be defense of democracy against all those who want to threaten it, destroy it. It is a political alliance, an alliance that mobilizes civil society to show how the democratic issue, the defense of the Constitution, the defense of the laws, as a space for resolving disputes, is the path with which countries must always be linked,” the Brazilian Minister of Justice and Public Security, Flávio Dino, representing President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, currently in India, for the G20 meeting.
For now, Portugal is the only country outside Latin America that participates in the commitment, with the Prime Minister, António Costa, joining the presidents of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, of Argentina, Alberto Fernández, From Uruguay. , Luis Lacalle Pou, from Bolivia, Luis Arce, and the Chilean, Gabriel Boric.
The alliance for democracy has more of a political character than legal force. 50 years ago, Brazilian general Emílio Garrastazu Médici, third in the period of the Brazilian military dictatorship (1964-1985), was the first president to recognize Pinochet, who chose Brazil as his first international destination, for the inauguration of the fourth general of the Brazilian army. Ernesto Geisel dictatorship, March 15, 1974.
“This is a more political commitment, of broad solidarity among those who defend democracy. In the event of a coup d’état, diplomatic channels must be exercised, ranging from negotiation to the denial of recognition, by democratic governments, of who are, the result of coups d’état,” Dino added.
The inclusion of foreign leaders is the international chapter of this commitment. On Thursday, Boric signed with the four former Chilean presidents, still alive, since the return of democracy in 1990, the same commitment, of an internal nature, with four points.
The first point establishes the commitment to “the care and defense of democracy, respecting the Constitution, the laws and the rule of law, civilizing principles in the face of authoritarian and intolerant threats and contempt for other people’s opinions.”
In the second, they committed to “face the challenges of democracy with more democracy, never with less, condemning violence and promoting dialogue and the peaceful resolution of differences, with citizen well-being as a horizon.”
In the third, they committed to “make the defense and promotion of human rights a value shared by the Chilean political and social community, without putting any ideology before unconditional respect.”
The fourth point is the international chapter of commitment, to “strengthen spaces for collaboration between States.”
However, Boric failed to obtain the commitment of the extreme right and traditional right parties, currently the majority in Parliament and the Constituent Assembly, to draft a new Constitution for the country.
Defenders of Pinochet’s neoliberal economic model, these parties justify the military coup of September 11, 1973 as necessary to free the country from the communism of socialist Salvador Allende.
Initially called “Santiago Compromise”, the name was changed to “Commitment: For Democracy, Always”, after Boric failed to achieve an internal consensus to repudiate the 1973 coup.
“We are seeing a rise of right-wing extremism. There is a historical update of Nazi-fascism, which shows that we, democrats, have to form these alliances to always be together,” concluded the Brazilian Minister of Justice.
Source: TSF
