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V Forum of Ministers of Culture and Officials in Charge of Cultural Policies in Latin America and the Caribbean.
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| Final Declaration |
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DECLARATION OF CARACAS
Regarding Our America
The Fifth Encounter, held in the city of Caracas, is part of a process culminating in the identification of Culture as a tool for Regional Integration and Development, wherein the common identity of our peoples can be achieved and an attitude of solidarity among them affirmed. As such, the Encounter acted as a catalyst for launching initiatives and projects inspired by the concept that man is the maker of Culture, and hence, constitutes the focus for Human Development.
The Caracas Meeting showed that, taking these concepts as a point of departure. It is possible to consolidate strategic concepts, bringing together political wills and accumulating technical and financial resources, thereby facilitating the call to a continent-wide platform on which all the ideals, aspirations, efforts, and initiatives to articulate the different dimensions of the Cultural Integration Process will converge.
A flexible, rotating, and plural mechanism will ensure the continuity of the work and decisions emerging from these Encounters, understood as arenas for the promotion, consensus-building, and mobilization of national
cultural development and the strengthening of progress already achieved in the expression of our America’s identity.
The process set in motion by the Encounters has led not only to a recognition of the Region’s unique characteristics; it has also motivated the specialized international organizations to support and cooperate with
Encounters and their perspectives.
The strategic guidelines considered and approved at the Caracas Encounter point toward seven great lines of action: training of human resources; harmonization of cultural legislation; identification of financial resources
available for the different projects: progress of the culture industry, involving books, audio-visual media, and handicrafts, as well as free movement of other cultural goods and services; development of cultural communication and information, as a means for fostering integration;
articulation of a vast network to link national and international centers and institutions of different kinds; concern for the technological dimension of culture and knowledge; and dissemination of current Latin American
thought.
This strategy leads to the implementation of common actions designed to facilitate articulation, exchange, and dialogue among the different manifestations of culture in the region, and between it and other peoples.
In this respect, the Caracas Encounter ratified the original
principles which have inspired Action for Integration of Latin America and the Caribbean.
The century’s end brings with it great transformations and a
crisis which has led mankind to rediscover the importance of Culture and its different components as a force for mutual understanding among men, integration among peoples, and essential support for achieving the fruits of development. This new awareness of the importance of
Culture’s role in social processes and the relationships among the peoples of the world was recognized and welcomed at the summit meetings of Presidents and Heads of State. They have called for the creation of a community of nations to favour the region’s integration and development and also stated that the enormous potential of Culture and the Arts in Latin America and the Caribbean can become a dynamic force and fundamental spur to our integration.
Moreover, since the first meeting in Brasilia, our Ministerial Encounters have expressly stressed Culture’s role as a tool for regional integration and development, and have declared that it is specifically in the realm of Culture where the common identity of our peoples and
the chance to develop a spirit of solidarity among them can be achieved.
A major event of that Meeting was the declaration of the English-speaking countries of the Caribbean, which affirmed (among other things) that the integration process must include a recognition and gradual demolition of the historical-cultural barriers which currently block the road toward the total integration of Latin America and the
Caribbean. This process needs to begin with us. The practice of integration will have to be perfected in events such as this, where those of us who, for good or ill, have been given the task of contributing to the creation of a new world order meet in the name of all the Latin American and Caribbean countries.
These cultural realities, reflections of the origin and course of our historical evolution, have generated an accumulation of initiatives bringing benefits for the overall process. Among them are the Southern Cone, Central American, Caribbean, and Andean groupings.
At the Mar de Plata meeting, we found a direct linkage between Culture and Integration expressed by the slogan "Open a Dialogue With All." This was an affirmation that, far from being a disadvantage, our diversity is the true wealth of Latin America and the Caribbean. It
is also the defining factor of our identity, understood not as an immutable essence, but as the interpenetration of underlying forces plus ongoing processes of identification, present not only in the dialog among our peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean, but also in the one which takes place among all the peoples of the world.
In the Declaration of Mexico on the Unity of Latin American and Caribbean Integration, it is asserted that the challenges Latin America must overcome are fundamentally of a cultural nature. It is also stated that the wellbeing of the men and women of Latin America, as well as solidarity and peaceful and democratic coexistence in the region, do not arise solely from certain economic and political conditions; they also require the harmonious mobilization of the diverse wills of the region’s individuals and groups. The key to that consensus lies in a cultural
project which can integrate and impart meaning to the different social activities.
The Declaration of Havana ratified the fact that, in Latin America and the Caribbean, where divergent political and legal systems coexist, a respectful and enriching dialog has been developed, which allows us to tackle problems and strive for the solutions required by integration. With
full responsibility it pointed out that the conditions in the cultural field are conducive to an acceleration of this process. The document adds that cultural identity and its defense and analysis from a standpoint of broadmindedness and respect for diversity continues to be among the essential requirements to achieving an understanding of the unique traits which characterize us as peoples and sovereign nations.
The Fifth Encounter of Ministers of Culture and Officials Responsible for Cultural Policy in Latin America and the Caribbean has generated a highly positive balance in terms of the consolidation of this series of annual Encounters and the development of a process of mutual approach and
identification among the countries of the different lattitudes of the Region. That in turn has facilitated enhanced understanding of the problems, the design of strategies and programs, the formulation of projects and the
creation of working arrangements which are becoming increasingly efficient and specialized and are laying the basis for a well coordinated region-wide action in the cultural sphere.
Since 1989, we have developed a collective, continuous, and sustained effort which allows us to assert that it has grown both qualitativelfy and quantitatively, in spite of the obstacles it has had to overcome and the challenges affecting our sovereignty.
Broad future prospects are opening up for our peoples. The five Encounters held to date are creating a yearning and a program, which we cannot be consider a success.
Looking ahead to the next Encounter in Santiago, Chile, we reaffirm our permanent determination to work together to advance in the natural process leading to the integration of our America. |
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