The Forum of Puebla: A New Latin American Progressive Space

30 political leaders representing 10 Latin American countries gathered on Saturday in Puebla, capital of the state of Puebla in Mexico, as a part of a project called ProgressiveMind (ProgresivaMente), aimed at uniting progressive forces from the continent. 

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Ex-member of the Mexican Congress and current Governor of Puebla, Luis Miguel Barbosa Huerta hosted the meeting which was attended by prominent leaders including member of the Uruguayan Socialist Party, Daniel Martinez, former Colombian President Ernesto Samper, former Organization of American States (OAS) Secretary General, Miguel Insulza, leader of the Mexican Regeneration Movement, Yeidckol Polevnsky, and former Head of Government of Mexico City and a founder of the Party of the Democratic Revolution, Cuauhtemoc Cardenas.

The conference lasted two days and included issues related to the future of the continent.

Huerta stressed at the inauguration that a progressive movement as the one they ought to create, should be "honest, transparent, fiscally prudent and close to the people."

"We must be able to provide effective ideas to put an end to the dramatic hurdle of migration, and most importantly, we must create conditions of equality to achieve the well-being of our peoples," he said.

The group wrote in a communiqué published on its website, that the region is experiencing a new wave of neoliberal governments, only interested in promoting the interests and privileges of a certain elite, when people’s social and economic situations keep on worsening along with the democracy, the respect of the law, the human rights and the environment. 

“We invite progressives to build a new common project that will allow us to return to our peoples the hopes for a fairer, more supportive, more egalitarian society,” the group stated, proposing to involve all the sectors of society to question the status quo, and to denounce the policies of the current far-right and right-wing governments.

It recalled that a war has been unleashed in recent years against progressive leaders of Latin America, taking as example the case of the latest revelations about the connivance between judge and prosecutors, to incarcerate ex-President of Brazil Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

"Fascist right-wing governments have gained many Latin American countries, so I think it's time for us to work together in an organized way and to close our ranks," Polevnsky said at the closing of the forum.

Concerning the administration of the project, which will take up its duties from August 1, Huerta said it will have a "leftist, progressive profile” adding that it “does not mean entering into conflict with other sectors of the society.”

The event was also attended by Chilean filmmaker and politician Marco Enríquez Ominami, former presidential candidate of Brazil Fernando Haddad, as well as Gabriela Rivadeneira, President of the National Assembly of Ecuador under former President Rafael Correa’s mandate.