Magdalena Leon, member of the Network of Women from Ecuador, talked about this. Nalu Farías from the World March of Women and Camille Chalmers, activist from Jubilee South in Haiti talked before her. Leon stated that the governments and the movements of the region are part of the same process of change, highlighting that the only way to overcome the capitalist model and really write history was to search for common points between the governments of change and the peoples. The activist also stated that there is another important challenge to face: to move in a sustainable way towards a structural change of the model.

Then, Rafael Correa, Ecuador´s President, stated that “there are winds of change in Latin America”. Nevertheless, in spite of the deep change taking place in the continent, Correa pointed out that there are some difficulties, because “we are dealing with a crisis that we didn´t start”.

However, Correa called on a new model, a “21st Century Socialism”. He stated that this model implied joint action against greed, and at a social level, an appropiate role of the State in terms of economy. He also said that state planning should be rescued and considered that what was done with human work during the last years was “embarrasing”, because “the way to compete was not by improving technology, but compromising the working conditions”.

He also pointed out that there are many institutional agreements to protect capital interests like the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), but there isn´t a space to avoid death penalty at an international level or defend immigrants. This is why, Correa stated that another feature of 21st century socialism is that human beings come first.

Afterwards, he stated that it was necessary that the States that have preserved the Amazon Forest should be compensated by the rest of the countries for the “priceless value” they were generating. He also made reference to the fact that it was necessary to move towards social justice and end discrimination against women. He added that this new socialism demanded integration.

Fernando Lugo, Paraguayan President, was next to speak. Lugo stated that Latin America is going through deep changes, mainly due to the hope coming from the social movements that considered it was possible to generate processes of change. Paraguay´s President pointed out that, especially in Paraguay and Bolivia, progressive presidents were certain about the fact that there were the struggles of the social movements what gave support to the government.

He also said that he had started to talk with Brazilian President, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva –who wasn´t invited by the social movements to the activity- about creating a different Latin America. Lugo believed that his colleague wasn´t going to let him down, making reference to the annulment of the treaty that rules on the selling of energy coming from Paraguayan dams to Brazil, which sets a very low price for it.

Lugo also made reference to issues that had an impact on the international agenda, like the Israeli offensive on Gaza, which killed thousands of civilians, or the US President Barack Obama´s announcement to close Guantanamo Bay prison. He said that the Palestinian people were being massacred with impunity, and that Guantanamo is Cuban and “should go back to its roots”, to that “free people which couldn´t be bent in fifty years”.

He also pleaded for a new relationship between the governments and social movements, and stated it wasn´t necessary to democratize and rethink economy to make it socially inclusive.

Evo Morales followed, stating that if there were four presidents sat together with social movements, it was thanks to the struggle they carry out. Morales said that he was president thanks to the popular movements, and wouldn´t want to be considered a guest in this type of meetings, but to be called on to them to “continue debating as before”.

Bolivian president dedicated hard words to the US position, considering them imperialists, and the hierarchy of the Catholic Church in his country, which opposed the project of constitutional refounding promoted by Morales. “Another world is possible, and another faith as well”, he stated.

The last President to speak was Venezuelan Hugo Chavez. The president looked around, to the heads of state sharing the long table with him, and described what he saw: “a Harvard economist, a bishop, a soldier and an indigenous person”, And he added: “We should always be humble”.

He also made reference to Obama, and stated he didn´t hold many expectations in terms of his mandate, and said that the only thing he requested was respect to Venezuela´s sovereignty. As Lugo had previously mentioned, he considered closing Guantanamo was a good decision. He also suggested that US soldiers should be withdrawn from Ecuador base, Manta.

He addressed the crisis, blaming global capitalism and “irresponsible policies taken by the US governments”.

He also stated that “a true socialist must be a feminist”, and thus he considered himself a feminist. He added to the “another world is possible” slogan, “another world is necessary” and stated that “another world is starting in Latin America”.

The activity was closed with the words of MST leader, Joao Pedro Stedile, who pointed out that while there were advances in the progressive governments, the people “should advance regardless of the elections”, because there are electoral processes that all they do is changing authorities.

He also said that the presidents “hadn´t been strong enough” because social movements expected more from their administrations. And finally, he expressed his wish that the social movements be invited to the next summit held by the governments.