Leer en Español
The XXVII Biennial Congress of the World Jurist Association (WJA) denounced this Friday in its final declaration the “false democracies” in several Latin American countries.
The declaration covers the various issues discussed by jurists from around the world in their two-day meeting in Barranquilla, the main city of the Colombian Caribbean, and stresses their defense of the rule of law as well as the absence of this in several Latin American countries.
“We want to denounce the situation in Cuba where the constitutional and democratic rule of law has not existed for many years, as well as to show our special attention to other countries such as Venezuela and Nicaragua,” said the statement, read by Manuel Aragon Reyes, emeritus magistrate of the Constitutional Court of Spain.
The text referred to “the situation of deterioration of constitutional democracy in some countries that is manifesting itself under forms of authoritarianism disguised as false democracies that violate human rights”.
The declaration also calls attention to the populist actions that endanger democratic institutions in other countries of the continent.
“That same risk is being run in Peru, Bolivia, El Salvador and other countries such as Mexico, where constitutional democracy is being endangered,” the document states.
The jurists emphasized that “democracy is the only political form that has historically proven its effectiveness to achieve an orderly and human coexistence”, and questioned the governments that appeal to “peace without law”.
“It is a false peace because it is based on force, eliminates civil liberties and leads to peace without justice”, reads the declaration in another of its paragraphs, which also refers to the need to promote the material conditions to provide welfare to which all have access.
