Presidents of Ecuador and Panama join Biden in plenary session on democracy

In a virtual plenary session held this Wednesday, the leaders of eight countries, including Ecuador and Panama, joined the President of the United States, Joe Biden, to discuss the challenges facing their territories in the framework of the second Summit for Democracy, sponsored by Washington.

“The power of these summits is not just speaking my mind and highlighting critical issues, but driving action and advancing concrete progress for people around the world,” Biden said during his keynote address.

The US president highlighted the work that the leaders of Ecuador, Panama, Slovakia, Malawi, Ukraine, Moldova, Nigeria and Denmark, present at the session, have carried out over the past 15 months “to comply with the commitments” established during the first summit . Among them, as he mentioned, maintaining respect for rights and inclusion.

In addition, he highlighted the initiative of the Dominican Republic to “modernize” its anti-corruption law to create more than one hundred anti-corruption offices at the local level.

The US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, accompanied Biden from the auditorium in the South Courtyard of the White House, where they received the presidents via video conference.

Biden highlighted in his speech what he pointed out as “progress” of his administration in favor of the American middle class. Among them, reducing the cost of essential products, such as prescription drugs, promoting innovation and infrastructure, and attention to the climate crisis.

In addition, he assured: “in the past we have demonstrated the resilience of American democracy during our free and fair elections last fall.” In reference to the midterm elections in November, the first since the assault on the Capitol on January 6.

“Voters roundly rejected the voices of extremism, attacking and undermining our democracy. The right to vote, to have your vote counted, is the threshold of democracy and freedom around the world,” Biden added.

Finally, Biden called in his speech to eradicate corruption, reject political violence, hatred and extremism, act against climate change, strengthen food security and promote the dignity “of all people, including women and girls, because wherever women and girls are threatened, democracy, peace and stability are also at risk.”

In addition, he made reference to the investment of 690 million dollars that he promised at the inauguration of the Summit to finance democratic initiatives around the world for two years. Among them, continue developing technologies that promote democratic governance.

Ukraine’s prominence

The plenary session began with a speech by the President of Slovakia, Zuzana Čaputová, who highlighted continued support for Ukraine to defend against Russian attacks as a key element of democracy. This was followed by Malawian President Lazarus Chakwera, who also highlighted the war as an attack on “democracy itself.”

Next, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine, joined the session to ensure that “democracy is in danger” due to those who attack the freedoms of the populations.

“The Kremlin is trying to weaponize humanity’s food supply (…) this is war, ladies and gentlemen, this is a war precisely against freedom and democracy,” Zelenskyy added.

The Ukrainian president added that, at the moment, “winning” is his only national objective, and that entails the preservation of freedom, dignity and territory in the face of Russian attacks.

Latin American concerns

Guillermo Lasso, President of Ecuador, delivered a speech in Spanish during the session in which he assured that we are experiencing a “humanitarian crisis”, not only in the face of Russia’s war in Ukraine, but also in the face of food insecurity and its “serious effects on the economies of developing countries.

Lasso addressed the presence of organized and transnational crime as “one of the most dangerous threats to democracy,” due to its scope in crimes such as drug trafficking, human trafficking, and arms trafficking.

“We need urgent measures on a regional and global scale (…) Today we see that these criminal organizations are allegedly linked to social and political actors and groups whose objective is to promote destabilization, ungovernability and chaos in order to operate freely,” he said. To combat it, he added, international cooperation is necessary.

Laurentino Cortizo, President of Panama, closed the interventions of the leaders who are organizing the summit with a speech in which he highlighted irregular migration as one of the most pressing global challenges.

“Governments have the responsibility to develop public policies to reduce the poverty and inequality gap. Failing to do so, democracy will continue to be a meaningless electoral process with no other result than a change of government, a lack of confidence in the system and growing instability”, he pointed out.

In addition, he emphasized the countries’ food sovereignty as an instrument that generates wealth in the countries. Cortizo highlighted that during the closures imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, “it was our producers who allowed us to put quality food on the tables of our people.” For this reason, he adds, multilateral trade relations must take into account the impact on farmers.

In the afternoon, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador during his speech questioned the concept of current democracy and said that, according to him, “the original meaning of this concept must be returned to.”

“Many of the great crimes against humanity have been committed in the name of God or in the name of democracy,” stressed the president, who added that in current times “there is still a mixture of oligarchy and democracy, or a simulated democracy and mediated”.

López Obrador concluded his message by saying that one should “go in search of greater equality to have more democracy” and that “democracy is authentic, true and that justice always triumphs over power.”

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