The third edition of the international seminar, “Latin America in dispute: alternatives to the conservative restoration and imperialist offensive”, ended on August 9 after 2 days of debate on the challenges in the region in the current context. The seminar, held in in the city of Santa Cruz, Bolivia, was sponsored by the political organization of the Movement for Socialism, “Azules del Oriente”, and other institutions. The event was attended by intellectuals and thinkers from various countries, including Cuba, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Argentina, Chile and Honduras.
During the event, the renowned Argentine journalist Stella Calloni pointed out that the right-wing had replaced bullets with disinformation campaigns that discredited not only historical figures, but also processes.
“They morally kill those who dared to challenge the empire with integrationist processes,” said Calloni, the author of ‘Los años del Lobo: Operación Cóndor’ (The Years of the Wolf: Operation Condor). She also said that “We are very weak not to see our own reality.” She gave a call to anticipate the plans and strategies of the United States.
Calloni highlighted the idea presented by Cuban leader Fidel Castro and Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, who insisted on the need to fight for the second and definitive Latin American and Caribbean independence.
“If we do not achieve this, if we lose this strategic perspective, we also lose our essence of being people who have resisted years of colonization and plundering,” she added.
Unity and regional resistance are fundamental in these times of re-colonization which the common enemy is trying to impose with different methods, she said.
Bolivian political scientist and former minister, Hugo Móldiz, said that in Latin America, the legal spaces to fight were closing and the answer was to defend and strengthen democracy with mobilization and people’s power.