Presidents of Latin America, the Caribbean and North America
Dear Presidents of Latin America, the Caribbean and North America
We, the undersigned organisations and individuals, support the International Campaign Against Military Spending. Therefore, we would like to point out the following:
1. – According to information from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), global military spending in 2022 reached an all-time high, reaching a total of 2.240 trillion dollars. In our continent, the countries that spent the most were Brazil with 20,210 million dollars; Colombia with 9,937 million dollars; Mexico with 8,535 million dollars; Chile with 5,566 million dollars; Peru with 2,845 million dollars; and Argentina with 2,577 million dollars. In Central America and the Caribbean, military spending amounted to $11.2 billion. In North America, the United States spent the most, both in our continent and in the world, reaching 876.943 billion dollars, and Canada 26.896 billion dollars.
2. – While there is money for military spending, poverty is maintained or increased in all our countries due to inflation, payment of foreign debt, among other serious problems that many of our countries are experiencing. The Social Panorama 2022 report projected that 201 million people (32.1% of the region’s total population) live in poverty, of which 82 million (13.1%) are in extreme poverty. At the same time, the FAO has pointed out that nearly 60 million people are hungry in our continent and 131 million people in the region could not afford a healthy diet.
Lola Castro, regional director of the UN’s WFP (World Food Programme), noted that “Food insecurity will continue to increase due to the food and fuel price crisis caused by the conflict in Ukraine and the aftermath of COVID-19”.
4 – War, no matter how far away it is, affects us all. We raise our voices and support the diplomatic efforts of dialogue and negotiations to bring about peace between Russia and Ukraine, in Yemen, in Sudan, in Palestine, as in other countries experiencing armed conflict.
5 – The real security that our countries, the region and the world need, lies in the social, economic and political well-being of the entire population, in respect among all nations, and in the establishment of guarantees of protection and common security for all.
6 – Militarisation, like the arms race, only destroys trust between our peoples and undermines the efforts of fraternity, co-operation and solidarity between our countries which should see each other as brothers and not as enemies.
7 – We urge our States to revitalise integration efforts in our continent, especially in CELAC and UNASUR, so that joint efforts can be made against the real threats faced by our peoples who live in violence and poverty as a consequence of neoliberalism, the permanent plundering of natural resources, and the depredation of our territories by large corporations and their extractive megaprojects.
8 – Finally, we ask that the governments of our continent reduce or eliminate military spending and commit these funds to social welfare, to legitimise efforts of peace, friendship, unity, cooperation and multilateralism, which will keep us away from the threat of war, destruction and annihilation. What is needed are sufficient funds for the enjoyment of human rights, the protection of natural resources (the ecosystem), for collective action, for solidarity, for jointly addressing the global emergencies of our time.
Yours sincerely,
Acción Colectiva de Objetores y Objetoras de Consciencia -ACOOC, Colombia
ACCSS, Guatemala
ACODEHU, Costa Rica
Global Alliance of Ministries and Infrastructures for Peace – Gamip Gamip Latin America and the Caribbean -Gamip Alianza por el Desarme y la Justicia Social, Colombia
Araña Feminista, Venezuela
Asociación Campesina de Trabajadores Agropecuarios de San José de Miranda, Colombia
Asociación Chilena Pro-Naciones Unidas – ACHNU, Chile
Asociación de Cabildos Indígenas de San Vicente del Caguán Caquetá, Colombia ACISC
Asociación Mujeres y Madres Abriendo Caminos (Women and Mothers Opening Paths), Colombia
Asociación para la Defensa de los Usuarios de los Servicios Públicos (ADUSP), Costa Rica
Asociación Rumiñahui, Spain
Asociación Sara Macdougal, Peru
Asociación Teatro de la Tierra Mercy Bustos, Madrid, Spain
Asociación de Productores Agroecológicos de Valle, Honduras
ATRAHDOM, Guatemala
Centro Cívico San Javier, Colombia
Centro de Amigos para la Paz, Costa Rica
Centro de Documentación en Derechos Humanos “Segundo Montes Mozo SJ” (CSMM), Ecuador
Centro de Estudios Ecuménicos A.C., Mexico
Centro de Investigación Drogas y Derechos Humanos (Drugs and Human Rights Research Centre), Peru
Centro de Investigación Social Formación y Estudios de la Mujer (CISFEM), El Salvador
CESTA, El Salvador
Circulo Bolivariano Yamileth López, Costa Rica
Colectivo Proderechos Ecológicos y Ambientales, Qro. section, Mexico
Colectivo Voces de Oya, Colombia
Colegio de Profesoras y Profesores de Collipulli, Araucanía region, Chile
Commission for Peace, Nonviolence and Demilitarisation – CONVIDA-20 Alliance, Chile
Ethical Commission against Torture, Chile
Oscar Romero Committee, Sicsal-Chile
Committee for a Dignified Chile – Norway
Magdala Ecumenical Community, Mexico
Martin Luther King Ecumenical Community, Chile
Slow Food Community of Southern Chile
ComuniSur Frente Comunicacional, Bolivia
Conaicop, International
Concertación Mons Romero, El Salvador
Confederación Unitaria de Trabajadores, Costa Rica
Consejo Comunal Marapa Marina A B C, Venezuela
Consejo Provincial de Paz del Oriente Antioqueño, Colombia
Convergencia Ciudadana de Mujeres -Converge Mujeres-, Guatemala
Conversemos y Actemos, Colombia
Coordinadora Americana Derechos de los Pueblos y Víctimas Prisión Política (American Coordinating Committee for Peoples’ Rights and Victims of Political Imprisonment), Guatemala
Corporación 3 y 4 Álamos, Chile
Corporación El Canelo, Chile
Corporación PazCaribe, Colombia
Coalición de Movimientos y Organizaciones Sociales de Colombia – COMOSOC, Colombia
Denver Justice and Peace Committee, United States (Denver, Colorado)
Desarrollo de infancia y adolescencia, Mexico
E. Pueblos Originarios Serpaj, Argentina
Educar Mujer Venezuela, Venezuela
Venezuelan Federation of Women Lawyers
Foro de Educación Religiosa, Costa Rica
Frente de Paz y Solidaridad, Costa Rica
Fundación Desarrollo Permanente, Colombia
Fundación Hogar Pastorin, Colombia
Fundación Lazos de Dignidad, Colombia
Fundación Movimiento Ajedrez Escolar, Chile
Fundación Procrear, Colombia
Gender, Diversity, Interculturality and Human Rights, Ecuador
Global Campaign On Military Spending (GCOMS), International
Global Thought Mx, Mexico
Grupo Taller del Sur, Mexico
Iglesia Metodista Wesleyana Costarricense, Costa Rica
Churches for Peace, Mexico
Instituto RIA AC, Mexico
Justapaz Asociación Cristiana Menonita para Justicia Paz y Acción Noviolenta, Colombia
Laboratorio de Paz, Venezuela
Movimiento de Mujeres Manuelita Sáenz MOMUMAS, Venezuela
Mujeres en Marcha, Chile
Mujeres para el Diálogo, Mexico
Mesa Ecuménica por la Paz – MEP, Colombia
MUVACOFUM, Guatemala
Náufrago de Itaca Ediciones, Venezuela
Núcleo de Estudos Sociopolíticos da Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais, Brazil
Observatório centroamericano de medios de comunicación y género GEMA, Costa Rica
Observatorio de Derechos Humanos de los Pueblos
Observatorio por el Buen Trato a Personas Mayores en Quilpué, Chile
Observatorio por el Cierre de la Escuela de las Américas – Chile
Observatorio Venezolano DDHH Mujeres
OCDIH, Honduras
Organización Rural Cooperativa AGROTUANAIME, Colombia
Parroquia Jesús Señor de la Vida – Santiago de Chile
Partido de la Independencia y del Trabajo, Senegal
Partido Vanguardia Popular, Costa Rica
Pastoral Cultural Sagrada Familia in Concepción, Chile
Pastoral Social Iglesia Anglicana de México
Pax Christi International
Casa Refugiados Programme, Mexico
Americas Programme, Americas.ORG, Mexico
Programa Venezolano de Educación-Acción en Derechos Humanos (Venezuelan Human Rights Education-Action Programme)
Rebellion or Extinction Medellín, Colombia
Red Acueductos Boyacá, Colombia
Red de Esperanza y Solidaridad, Puerto Rico
Red de Estudios y Empoderamiento Afrodescendiente -RedAfros-, Dominican Republic
Red de Mujeres Afros de Bayunca-REMABAY, Colombia
Network of Solidarity with Palestine, Costa Rica
Border Patrol Victims Network, USA/MX
Red Solidaria Década Contra la Impunidad AC, Mexico
REDIALOGO – Red de Mujeres Constructoras de Paz (Network of Women Peacebuilders), Venezuela
Resuena, Colombia
Mexican Social Secretariat
Sercoba – Equipo de Servicio a Comunidades de Base, El Salvador
Servicio Paz y Justicia, Paraguay
Servicio Paz y Justicia, SERPAJ, Argentina
Servicio Paz y Justicia, SERPAJ-Chile
Servicios y Asesoría para Paz, Mexico
SICSAL, Mexico
Sindicato de la Unión de la Unión de Trabajadores del Instituto de Educación Media Superior de la Ciudad de México (SUTIEMS), Mexico City
Tinta Violeta, Venezuela
Trawunche Madrid (Coordinación de Apoyo al Pueblo Mapuche), Spain
Popular University of the Peoples, Colombia
World BEYOND War, International
Individual signatories include Martin Almada, Alternative Nobel Prize winner from Paraguay; Alicia Lira Matus, President of the Agrupación de Familiares de Ejecutados Políticos de Chile; Daniela Peña, Centro de Estudios para el Desarrollo de la Mujer, CEDEM, Chile; Franklin Ledezma Candanedo, journalist and writer from Panama; Judith Kelly, Ambassador for Peace, Pax Christi USA; Julio Yao, Honorary President and President-in-Charge, Centro de Estudios Estratégicos Asiáticos, Panama; María Stella Cáceres, Museo de las Memorias, Dictadura y DDHH, Paraguay; Nidia Arrobo Rodas, Fundación Pueblo Indio, Ecuador; Rev. Luis Carlos Marrero, Centro Oscar Arnulfo Romero from Cuba; Víctor Javier Velásquez Gil, Corporación Justicia y Democracia from Colombia; and Viviana Catrileo E de ANAMURI from Chile; among other signatures.
All signatures at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GTlvDj0S5zuMjIlE8swyzPo7GxdMH7D1/view
Abya Yala 15 May 2023