Photo taken from Prensa Latina
Havana, June 28 (RHC) The second social forum of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac) continues here today after a first day in which the debates focused on the importance of unity and integration.
The Celac Social was inaugurated yesterday, an event that brings together more than 300 international delegates in this capital who also participate in the scheduled activities of the XXVII meeting of the Sao Paulo Forum.
During the first day of work, the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of Honduras and coordinator of the pro tempore presidency of CELAC, Gerardo Torres, read the Declaration of Tegucigalpa, the official document of the conclave.
The text expressed support for the president of Honduras, Xiomara Castro, and extended its revolutionary support to the Liberty and Refoundation Party (Libre) and its general coordinator, Manuel Zelaya, whom it described as the vanguard of the Honduran people.
The document also paid tribute to the peaceful struggle of the people against the 2009 coup d’état, which ended with the defeat of the narco-dictatorship that oppressed this Central American nation for 12 years and seven months.
He added that this coup was condemned internationally and represents not only a crime against humanity, but the biggest act of corruption in the country’s history that “led to the imposition of a narco-dictatorship that plundered the political coffers, increased poverty, marginalization and social inequality.”
“Xiomara Castro’s government has begun a profound program of social and political reforms to re-establish the Honduran state, restore its strength, reactivate the economy, promote education and guarantee life, liberty and peace,” he emphasized.
He acknowledged the bravery of the Hondurans and affirmed that the peoples in resistance, with their strength, courage and unwavering honesty, never gave up on their ideals of defending their dignity and that of their country “against the usurpers who hold economic and colonialist power and destroyed national unity with their crimes.”
“Democratic socialism is the political, economic and social model necessary to preserve the human species and the planet in the process of destruction due to neoliberal imposition and the terrible effects of global capitalism that we will continue to combat by reaffirming our independence and sovereignty,” he stressed.
In addition, he condemned the recent failed coup attempt against the president of Bolivia, Luis Arce, promoted by General Juan José Zúñiga.
On the other hand, the Celac Social document expressed solidarity with the Palestinian people and strongly condemned the genocide perpetrated against them by Israel’s military invasion of the Gaza Strip, which has left thousands of civilians dead, most of them children.
The statement condemned any form of terrorism and called on the United Nations to implement the Security Council resolutions to achieve a definitive ceasefire and put an end to the suffering of thousands of people.
He referred to the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States on Cuba for more than six decades, a policy that is rejected annually at the UN by the vast majority of member nations of that multilateral organization.
He condemned the “unjust sanctions against the peoples of Nicaragua and Venezuela, victims of the rapacious geopolitical plans of the United States,” and described these actions as criminal, irrational and interventionist.
The Social Celac will take place until next Saturday in the framework of the commemoration of the 15th anniversary of the coup against Honduran President Manuel Zelaya and has among the agenda items the holding of seminars on women and youth, among others. (Source: Prensa Latina)
