CÚPULA DA AMÉRICA LATINA E DO CARIBE SOBRE ... - Funag

INTERVENÇÕES (VERSÃO ORIGINAL)
want to suggest three areas that we need to be examine very carefully. First,
we need to guard against the tendency that we have seen so often, the tendency
toward insularity. Each of us sometimes thinks that in fighting a particular
battle we are better off fighting it on our own rather than being shackled by
collective obligations. I think we need to understand that there is no point in
winning the battle if we are not going to win the war, which requires a much
broader cohesive approach than we are able to take on an individual basis.
Second, I want to suggest that there is the need for us to harmonize our
interests and strategies. Too often we find ourselves on opposing sides of
issues at the micro-level to the detriment of forging a collective purpose at the
macro-level. Again, we sometimes focus on winning battles rather than on
winning the war. President Jagdeo made the point yesterday that so often we
see each other at important conferences in the world, where we need to get
together, and all we do is say hello to each other, when in fact we should have
gone with as common an approach as possible. The strength of our numbers
in impacting the world is something that must not be underestimated.
Third, I want to suggest that we do not need a platform from which we
are going to individually show the world up. We need to talk to the world with
one strong collective voice. President Castro made a very important point
yesterday and I want to quote him, he said: “This is not a time for creed or
ideology,” and we need to look at how far we have come. We represent
States; we are political leaders representing political parties that not so long
ago could find nothing on which to agree. And yet today we have got to the
stage where there is so much in common between us, so much that we agree
on, that sometimes we struggle to find things on which we do not agree. We
have got to a point where there is so much that we have in common and there
is so much unity that we have been able to forge in a common purpose. I
believe, President Lula, I really believe, that we are under on the threshold of
an exciting new experience in Latin America and the Caribbean.
We have an opportunity for a collective engagement. We have an
opportunity to assert the enormous power of this region. We will be fierce
and defiant, when necessary, and we must be unswervingly committed to the
principles that we have exposed. But I believe the time for action is now. I
believe the time has come for us to move forward together. I have made a
proposal: I believe the Rio Group provides the ideal framework and we do
not need to recreate it. We will need to do some work in terms of structure, in
terms of the support mechanisms that it will need. And I want to reiterate the
66