Document was sent for discussion at the Alliance of First Ladies of Latin America this Monday (Feb 27)
First Lady Janja Lula da Silva stated that Latin America has been, “historically”, target of political coups. She highlighted that the region needs “act for the protection of democracy and its institutions”, according to a letter sent this Monday (27.Feb.2023) to the Alliance of First Ladies of Latin America. Here’s the full (521 KB).
Janja suggested discussing 3 topics at the group’s virtual meeting – which she did not participate in because she was at the launch of the bivalent vaccination campaign against covid-19 in the country:
- democracy and democratic and participatory institutions;
- Internet, big techs and misinformation;
- climate crisis and the need for a new global governance.
The first lady began the text by talking about the recurrent attempts to “political and destabilization coups” in Latin America and that these moments of crisis open up “strengthening of far-right forces and fascists”which aim to control the State and the Budget.
“This happens for several reasons, but we can emphasize the capacity of our region in terms of natural bases and work. These elements make our region attractive for international investments and the interests of large transnational companies, in addition to making us a strategic region in terms of international politics and our participation in global multilateral spaces”he stated.
Janja highlighted that the strengthening of the right aims at “economic policies of austerity and privatization, redirecting investments from public funds […] for the private economy.
In this sense, the first lady said that privatizations lead to a country with less quality of life and undermine public policies aimed at reducing social inequality and helping the environment.
“As happened in Brazil on the 8th of January with an attempted coup by the Brazilian extreme right, we find ourselves in a historic window that calls us to act for the protection of democracy and its institutions”he declared.
After the remarks, Janja spoke of the need for the group of first ladies to think about strategies to strengthen democracy with social participation. In addition, she reiterated the importance of measures to combat the spread of fake newsnoting that the “lack of moderation” from social networks “place them at the center of these disinformation processes”.
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