Declaration of Ayacucho of 2004

Pampa de La Quinua - Ayacucho, December 9, 2004

1) At the invitation of the President of Peru, the Heads of State of the Republic of Bolivia, the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, the Republic of Panama, the Republic of Suriname, and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, and high-level representatives of the Republic of Argentina, the Federative Republic of Brazil, the Republic of Colombia, the Republic of Chile, the Republic of Ecuador, the United Mexican States, the Republic of Paraguay, and the Eastern Republic of Uruguay participated in the celebration of the 180th anniversary of the Battles of Junín and Ayacucho that sealed the independence of Spanish America and of the historic summons, from Lima, of the Amphyctionic Congress of Panama, in which the Liberator Simón Bolívar and the Grand Marshal of Ayacucho, Antonio José de Sucre, were the emblematic figures.

2) We, the Presidents, given the existence of a shared culture and history, of a geographic continuum and of a future of integration, reiterate the ideals of freedom, equality and solidarity in which our nations’ fight for independence was grounded.

3) In the thirty years that have passed since the Declaration of Ayacucho was adopted in 1974, we have progressed in our efforts to consolidate the effective exercise of human rights, of democratic values and of the state of law and will continue to do our utmost to attain a sustainable economic and social development that will promote social justice, freedom, equality, tolerance and respect for the environment, among other things, and that will give due consideration to the pressing needs of the poorest, as well as the special requirements of the small and vulnerable economies of South America.

4) Today, at the site of what was one of the most important battlefields for the independence of Spanish America, we hail the formation of the South American Community of Nations as the materialization of the will expressed by the South American Heads of State in the Declarations of Brazil of 2000 and of Guayaquil of 2002.

5) We, further, underscore the importance of the commitment we have assumed to make the South American Peace Zone a reality and we promise to promote a culture of peace that will make the plural societies identified in our common aims a viable objective.

6) We reaffirm our commitment to the effective application of the Inter-American Democratic Charter adopted in Lima on September 11, 2001 and reiterate our will to make efforts to reinforce the mechanisms that promote and defend that Charter.

7) We reiterate the need to complete the process of adoption, within the OAS, of the Social Charter of the Americas, which will be conducive to the full exercise of social, economic and cultural rights, for the benefit of our nations.

8) We reaffirm our full support for the Regional Infrastructure Integration in South America Initiative (IIRSA) and for the progress made under that Initiative, particularly that in reference to the Consensual Agenda for 2005-2010 and the IIRSA project portfolio. In keeping with the proposal put forward at the Sixth Meeting of the Executive e Committee, we initial the map containing the projects initially included on that Agenda.

9) We reiterate the sovereign right of the States to identify their national security priorities and to define plans and action to be taken accordingly, in keeping with their legislation and with the full observance of international law and of the Charters of the Organization of American States and of the United Nations.

10) We, further, affirm that the citizens’ security conditions and the need to confront new threats are linked indissolubly to the right of the people to economic and social development. For that reason, we agree to hold a meeting on citizen safety and related issues in the city of Fortaleza, in Ceará state, in the Federative Republic of Brazil in July 2005.

11) Moreover, with a view to addressing other important issues associated with the region’s economic and social development, we convene the following conferences:

a) Conference of Ministers responsible for social programs (second quarter of 2005), with a view to establishing a South American Action Plan for Decent Work.

b) Special International Conference, at the Ministerial level, of developing countries with substantial migratory flows (first quarter of 2005, Lima, Peru) for the purpose of coordinating lines of action that will make it possible to deal with the multiple dimensions of the phenomenon, bearing in mind the progress, initiatives and recommendations of the Fifth South American Conference on Migration, held in La Paz, Bolivia, on November 25 and 26, 2004.

12) We recognize the significant contribution made by the regional Parliaments to the construction of the integration process and express our satisfaction and pleasure at the formation of the South American Interparliamentary Union, consisting of the joint meetings of the MERCOSUR Joint Parliamentary Committee, the Andean Parliament, and representatives of the Chilean Congress.

13) We, the attending Presidents and Heads of State, express our deepest appreciation to the President of Peru for prompting the discussion of issues of crucial importance to the Region at this most significant meeting, for having organized the Third South American Summit, and for the courtesies extended to us. .

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