First Latin American Encounter of Mayors
On June, 2005 one-thousand and seventy-three participants, inter alia, mayors, city councilors, local administrators and legislators; students and citizens from fourteen countries gathered in the city of Rosario, Argentina, in order to carry out the First Latin American Encounter of Mayors called “Cities for Unity” which, with the aid of Fundación Cláritas, was organized together with the Political Movements for Unity of Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay.
The central theme of the encounter was fraternity as a guiding principle of the policies to strengthen democracy in local administration. There was a presentation of experiences made in several countries which knew how to overcome division between the government and the opposition parties, between politics and citizenship or between cities, in order to formulate government policies in connection to local development strategies and the solution of priority social matters.
The encounter was attended by, among other personalities, Romano Prodi, Italy’s Prime Minister and former president of the European Committee; Lucia Fronza president of the international MPU, Luiza Erundina former mayor of Sao Paulo, Mariapia Garavaglia, Vice-mayor of Roma, Marcos Carámbula, Mayor of Canelones, Uruguay; and from Argentina: the Mayor of Rosario, Miguel Lifschitz, the Nation’s Social Development secretary, Daniel Arroyo; the Nation’s Secretary of the Interior, Dra. María Teresa García, the vice-governor of the Santa Fe Province, Dra. María Eugenia Bielsa, and Dr. Martín Sabatella, Mayor of Morón, and more than four hundred municipal officers.
The program was developed on the basis of four matters: quality of democracy and participation, inclusive citizenship and security, local development, Latin American integration. Finally, the participant cities signed the commitment: “Cities for Unity”.
Programs and lectures
MPPU Web Site
Participants’ testimonies:
| “Fraternity should be the norm, but it is still a challenge. Encounters like this one confirm that there are many people working for the ideal of fraternity and that they daily translate the ideal into specific actions”. Miguel Lifschitz, Mayor of Rosario |
| “It is very important that fraternity plays a priority role in the public agenda. Fraternity interpreted from unity and from a careful view towards the needy, convinced that politics has sense if it constantly looks at the others”. María Eugenia Bielsa, Vice-governor of Santa Fe. |
| “If many people dream with a sustainable city or a solidary city or an inclusive city, we can dream and act towards a fraternal city”. Rodrigo Mardones, Political scientist, A. Hurtado University, Chile. |
| “The city is a space of coexistence. The city receives more directly the pressure of collective demands of public utilities. Let’s live in them with fraternity, which turns us into builders of the city and of the world”. Luiza Erundina, Federal Representative, former mayor of San Pablo, and co-president of Brazilian MPU |
| “We could observe enthusiasm, commitment and conviction of those who work under the fraternity paradigm and I believe that if any of the present members doubted on how to implement unity amid diversity, it was proved that it is really possible.” Claudia, student of the school of social and political education for young people. |
| “It was beautiful to see those happy and enthusiastic personalities. What pleases me more is that such happiness did not come from the elections, the campaigns, the search for followers, promotion or publicity, nor it came from particular interests. They were attracted by the wonderful proposal of fraternity” Teresa, student of the school of social and political education for young people. |
