IBERO-AMERICA: One Democracy — Many Forms

By Tito Drago Reprint | | Print |

Tito Drago

VIÑA DEL MAR, Nov 11 1996 (IPS) - The heads of State and government of 19 Latin American nations plus Spain and Portugal meeting Monday in the Chilean resort town of Viña del Mar agreed that democracy can take a variety of forms.

The final declaration of the Ibero-American Summit signed Monday and the speeches of a majority of the leaders highlighted democracy as the best form of government.

But the Viña del Mar declaration reflects the wide variety of democracies among the participating nations, which include a monarchy, a parliamentary republic, a communist government and a number of presidentialist regimes, some with federal States and others centralist.

Spain’s parliamentary monarchy, in which the eldest male son of the King is heir to the throne, was approved by referendum in 1978. The system has drawn fire from citizen organisations which argue that it is not only sexist but un-democratic, because the head of State is crowned without being elected.

In Cuba, the ruling Communist Party is the only party.

In Portugal, the government, headed by a Prime Minister, is designated by parliament. The functions of the President are limited to representing the State, similar to the role of the King of Spain.

In the rest of the nations represented here, the forms of democracy range between two extremes: Chile, where the constitution and the head of the army, General Augusto Pinochet, were both inherited from the 1973-90 dictatorship; and Costa Rica, a nation known for its long democratic tradition and respect for the basic rights of citizens.

The final draft of the Viña del Mar Declaration reflects that variety. The signatories commit themselves to democracy, a state of law, political pluralism and respect for human rights and basic liberties.

The rule of international law is also recognised, “and especially the principles of sovereignty, non-intervention and juridical equality of States, as well as the right of each nation to freely build — in peace, stability and justice — its own political system and institutions.”

The document underlines that the consolidation of democracy is the continuous task of every nation “in accordance with its political tradition.” Tradition is thus invoked to justify diverse forms of applying democracy and enable all the participating leaders to sign the Declaration.

A clause that was added to earlier drafts establishes conditions for political cooperation between nations, “based on unrestricted respect for the sovereignty, territorial integrity, self-determination and independence of each country.”

Cooperation, the document states, “requires that the national traditions rooted in each of our societies be respected, and that each Nation choose the means, instruments and mechanisms it considers most suitable.”

With respect to democracy and governability, the declaration underscores that no citizen’s fundamental rights are to be affected in the name of a dogmatic vision of society, and that “political groups and parties play an essential role in democratic development.”

Events surrounding the Summit highlighted the differing perceptions of democracy. A diplomatic row broke out between the Spanish and Cuban delegations, with Spain’s representatives arguing that Cuba’s single-party system contradicted President Fidel Castro’s signing of the Declaration.

Argentina was unsuccessful in its bid for the inclusion of a clause that would have established pluralistic democracy as a requisite for participating in the Summit.

In a gathering organised by Chile’s Socialist Party, Castro responded to the verbal attacks that came from a number of sectors.

Criticism of Cuba’s one-party system is the result of the media’s failure to report on his country’s democratic mechanisms and elections, he contended. Cuban delegates to the Summit pointed out that candidates are elected in popular assemblies, and parliamentary deputies must win at least 50 percent of the votes.

But the most important thing, said Castro, is that in his three decades as president, “not one person has ‘disappeared’, been killed for political reasons or tortured, and there have been no death squads. Our conscience is clean.”

Castro’s statements came in Chile, where Pinochet — under whose de facto military regime tortured, murdered and “disappeared” victims numbered in the thousands — remains at the head of the army.