By Thelma Mejía
TEGUCIGALPA, Jul 3 1998 (IPS)

The Executive Committee of the Latin American Episcopal Conference (Celam) meeting in the Honduran capital held politicians responsible Friday for the rise in poverty and the lack of ethics and solidarity in the region.

After a four-day meeting behind closed doors to debate “sustainable human development, an agenda for the third millenium”, the bishops signed a “moral letter of intentions” Friday, urging a “rescue” of the exercise of politics to prevent further impoverishment in the region.

Government representatives and delegates of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) took part in the gathering, whose participants concluded that efforts against poverty were still unsubstantial.

Archbishop of El Salvador Gregorio Rosa Chavez was one of the most assiduous critics, saying that although Celam highlighted education as a key element in human development, it “should not be seen as the way to learn to read and write in order to work in the maquilas.”

Maquilas are export-processing zones in which industries enjoy tax exemptions, and which have been one source of foreign investment in developing countries.

“The maquilas abound in our countries, operating with people who are forbidden to think and are paid the least amount possible. We propose integral education which prepares people to think, criticise and question reality to be able to change it,” said Chavez.

In its letter of intentions, Celam declares that education must be stimulated in order to change the face of Latin America. The bishops also call for the rescue of ethical and moral values and solidarity, and the offsetting of losses caused by globalisation and bad political practices.

The bishops said that for them, politics is the art of the common good, especially for the poor. But, they added, that objective had been lost in Latin America, where politics had plunged into a “distressing prostitution.”

The declarations by the members of Celam, which is presided over by Honduran Archbishop Oscar Andres Rodriguez, brought expressions of sympathy from local politicians, who have been the targets lately of accusations of demagoguery and corruption.

Nora Melgar of the opposition National Party told IPS that although Honduran and other Latin American politicians would not be pleased with Celam’s declarations, “it is true…we have misused politics.”

In Honduras, “parties have forgotten their grassroots bases, the people, and are absorbed in a struggle of interests in which corrupt and obscurantist sectors are hobbling democracy,” she added.

Melgar called the bishops’ declaration a “healthy reflection,” which she hoped would “help us think about the future of politics.”

The leader of the governing Liberal Party Jorge Reina said the church had touched “very sensitive fibres, and although their proposal is not more than an exhortation and analysis of the exercise of politics in Latin America, there is no doubt that there is much truth in their words.”

In its moral letter of intentions, Celam states that independently administered justice would be the most effective weapon against impunity and corruption.

The bishops also underlined that with respect to economic issues, countries in the region should design programmes in which the human being was the focalpoint of development and instruments to achieve it, in a review of structural adjustment policies.

But Honduran Finance Minister Gabriela Nunez countered that “not everything the bishops call for will be deliverable.”

“There are very complex situations that deserve immediate responses, and we cannot ask for more than what the budget of a country makes possible,” she stressed.

Nunez said that while she shared most of Celam’s positions, “the economic aspect is not easy to manage.”

“Adjustments will always exist as long as they are demanded by the restructuring of finances, and that does not mean we are going to neglect health or education,” she added.

Honduran Archbishop Rodriguez said the letter of intentions “seeks to draw the attention of the governments, to indicate that development is the new name for peace in the Americas.”

With a view to the new millenium, the Catholic Church is seeking a document containing serious proposals that would allow the Latin American region “to find its destiny, provide hope and show that its inhabitants merit better living standards.”

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