Bolivian Foreign Minister points up Andean challenges
created by the economic crisis and worldwide instability

Lima, Nov 6, 2001. The Foreign Minister of Bolivia, Gustavo Fernández, today urged the Andean countries to buttress democracy and freedom, reaffirm their right to better global positioning, resist the pressures brought by protectionism, and take part in building the hemispheric market.

He called upon them to "act without prejudice or dogma, but with clarity and responsibility" in confronting the economic crisis and "paroxysm of globalization," heightened by the "disorderly and chaotic terror in the aftermath of the events of September 11."

The Bolivian Foreign Minister made these statements in the address he delivered today at the Andean Community headquarters on the "Prospects for integration in the current international context," at the invitation of CAN Secretary General Sebastián Alegrett, who introduced him as a "statesman, diplomat, and a man of both thought and action."

In his presentation, which was loudly applauded by the diplomatic corps attending the event, the Bolivian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Chairman of the Andean Council of Foreign Ministers, referred to the international context as a "turbulent sphere of paradoxes and contrasts."

The Andean region, on the one hand, boasts the results of democratic achievement, economic modernization, the conquest of peace, and cultural vitality. On the other, it shows evidence of a persistent "concentration of wealth, social exclusion, discrimination, accumulated backwardness, dependency, and vulnerability."

"Now is not the time for stability," Fernández stressed, "it is a moment of change and unstable transformation within an unknown political and economic balance," in which "the trends brought forward from the past" cross over and clash with "those foreseen for the future."

The former find their expression in the "systematic and age-long exclusion of the indigenous and peasant population, buried at the roots of Andean society." The demands of these people today, however, are a world apart from those of 200 and even 50 years ago when their aspiration was to become a part of the countries’ society.

In a kind of "mythical return to the past," the new indigenous movements "no longer seek integration, but differentiation." Their talk today is of "cultural and ethnic autonomy," he warned. This "turnaround of history" stands in sharp contrast to the alleged "end of history," forecast by Francis Fukuyama. According to Fernández, it is in this context that the globalization phenomenon belongs, which has "brought neither stability, nor peace," and has become "an agent that subverts the established order."

To his way of thinking, globalization has altered the economy and the system of production, shattered the traditional power structure, and changed the State. "National political power no longer tallies with the transnational economic power base," he observed, noting that globalization has worked a change in our social relations, and even those of our families.

To "the paroxysms of globalization," which Fernández placed on a level with "navigating blind," he added the worldwide "disorderly and chaotic terror" unleashed by the attacks of September 11."

The impact of these dramatic events has been two-fold, according to the Bolivian Foreign Minister. The first consequence has been the reaffirmation of the value of the State. "In crises and in war, the State is more important than the market," he declared, after underscoring the rapprochement of the great nations –Russia, the United States, and China-in their "attempt to bring order out of the chaos and to rebuild an international system that appeared to be getting out of their control."

The second is in the economic terrain. According to Fernández, September 11 was an "explosive element" that heightened the profound crisis, foreseen three years earlier, with financial imbalances that rocked Asia first, followed by Brazil, and now Argentina, and which "expose Latin America’s vulnerability."

The economic crisis, in turn, has triggered two trends. On the one hand, there has been "a political, formal, and juridical reaction in favor of free trade," while on the other, there is a noticeable "concrete entrepreneurial operation to guarantee an uninterrupted supply, in which the costs of security and transportation have assumed importance."

The question to be asked here is what should the Andean countries do in the presence of this situation? "While I must admit that I can offer no answers, but must put forward my own questions," the Bolivian Foreign Minister confessed, he advocated reinforcing democracy. "Faced with the threat of terror, we must buttress freedom and build pluralistic and participatory societies grounded in respect for human rights."

"The domestic political task that each Andean society must address" is the eradication of poverty and further development, "as the true name of peace."

Confronted by globalization, Fernández proposed that we reaffirm our right to a better position in the international system, to compete for markets, strive to democratize the international economic system, and harmonize our economic and monetary policies. "There is only one country risk and we must come to grips with it jointly," he warned.

He went on to touch upon the accomplishments made in the area of integration over a period of more than three decades, emphasizing the growth of intra-Community trade from 100 million to almost 6 billion dollars, the establishment of the Andean Court of Justice which makes it possible to settle all disputes, and the role played by the Andean Development Corporation (CAF) as a source of financing.

He warned, however, that the countries should not "yield to the temptation of applying protectionist policies that could signify a break with everything that has been gained," but must be capable of "settling their commercial differences," as they move ahead with the project to link up the CAN and the Mercosur and "we become integrated into the hemispheric market of the Free Trade Area of the Americas," which he defined as an "inevitable and desirable step forward."