According to Enrique Daza, national director of the Labor Research Center, member of the Continental Alliance and organizer of the forum of nations, it will be a true meeting of the peoples of the Americas.
Daza explained that the event would take place on the opposite side of the official hemispheric meeting, so that the proposals for integration and the demand for social movements can be really taken into consideration.
In that regard, he assured that the so-called Summit of the Americas will deal with a series of issues previously chosen due to their neutrality instead of the real problems that concern the peoples of this continent.
Those issues were chosen because, according to the Colombian government, they do not entail any division, while the so-called Social Summit will consider such matters, Daza told Prensa Latina.
Instead, he said, the People’s Summit claims that the peoples have the right to express their opinion on the most pressing problems of the region and not to make a show of apparent participation, where there is none.
The event will consist of three sessions: the first one will be held on Thursday to address different topics, including development model, integration, militarization and human rights, climate change and green economy, land, territory and food sovereignty, free trade and economic crisis.
On the second day (morning), women, students, churches, trade unions and human rights organizations will gather at various meetings to address sectorial issues.
All of this meetings will lead to an Assembly on April 14, when they will approve the declaration of the People’s Summit, which will be taken to the Presidential Forum through a social mobilization on the streets of Cartagena de Indias. (PL)