Call Monsignor Romero por la Paz

San Salvador, March 2005

LATIN AMERICA DEMANDS TO LIVE IN PEACE

25 years after the assassination of Monsignor Romero, the echo of his prophetic voice is heard: « If they kill me, I will be resurrected in the Salvadoran people... » Monsignor Romero is resurrected not only in the Salvadoran people, but also in that of the women and men of Latin America, of her laborers, campesinos, indigenous, African Americans, students and intellectuals, and of the victims of exclusion who work for sovereign nations, so that human rights and social justice become a reality.

Latin America is the most inequitable continent in the world. This situation has been aggravated and the poverty has increased as a result of the application of a model of development which concentrates wealth and globalizes poverty. 224 million Latin Americans are poor, living with a wage of less than two dollars a day. From there the relevance of the argument of Monsignor Romero when he denounced «The absolutization of wealth...private property as an untouchable absolute and oh ! He who touches this high-tension wire will be burned! It is not just that a small few have everything and that they make it an absolute in such a way that no one can touch it, and the marginal majority is dying of hunger. » (August 12, 1979)

But it is not a question only of material wealth, the valuing of life has also been impoverished. Thousands of Latin Americans die as a result of armed internal conflicts, of forms of political and military repression, or of other forms of violence such as the exclusion which denies them access to potable water, food and health. Monsignor Romero maintained as an essential foundation of his pastoral work/preaching « nothing matters to me as much as human life. It is something so serious and profound, more than the violation of any other human right, because that blood doesn’t do other than reject love, awaken new hatred, make impossible the reconciliation and peace. What is most needed here today is an end to the repression!  » (March 16, 1980)

Today, following decades of wars and of peace processes, we understand that these wars are fed by the interests of powerful countries who, in order to increase and perpetuate their privileges, weaken national sovereignties, appropriate natural resources, establish multilateral organizations to reproduce a profoundly exclusive model of economic and social development which multiplies inequality, misery and injustice. We have learned that peace is more than the absence of war, it is also the reconstruction of a society with justice, equality and democracy. We fully share the thesis of Monsignor Romero, who a quarter of a century ago, affirmed: «The violent conflicts will not disappear until the last roots disappear. Therefore, while the causes of the current misery and the intransigence of the most powerful minorities who don’t want to tolerate minimal changes are maintained, this explosive situation will worsen. Because of this, the construction of social justice is the most urgent task. » (Pastoral letter, August 6, 1978)

In the last years, significant changes have come about: the bipolar order of the Cold War ended and the United States consolidated its political and military hegemony; the market economy has been imposed (around the world) and democracy has been recognized as a model of political rule. The terrorist attacks of September 11th in New York and Washington led to a redefining of the concepts of security which has meant a tendency to sacrifice democracy for the sake of the so-called « war on terrorism » and a turning over to the military the policies of internal security. In this new context, policies like Plan Puebla-Panama, Plan Colombia and the Andes Region Initiative acquire a special significance. These plans articulate projects for the control of markets and natural resources like water, oil and biodiversity, in a dynamic of which the projects of FTAA and its bilateral counterparts, Free Trade Agreements, form part.

These conditions make it imperative that we draw inspiration from the legacy of Monsignor Romero, developing it and projecting it as an effective guide in the activity of the social movements in defense of life and dignity, in the rejection of the tendencies towards militarization of the societies and in defense of liberty and democracy.

We reaffirm ourselves in the principle that the search for peace is an inclusive process, of unity in diversity, of respect for difference and human rights. Peace demands the construction of new relationships between nations, respectful of sovereignty and of the diversity of national projects, that in the framework of fair trade, make viable the development of social movements and of governments of a new kind, like those which today exist in some countries in the continent.

From San Salvador, in this anniversary of the sacrifice of Monsignor Romero, we commit ourselves to impel with renewed vigor the Latin American dimension of his thought, to struggle against violence and the diverse forms of oppression which attack the dignity of the people.

In the perspective of bringing up to date the commitment to the ideals which gave meaning to the life of Monsignor Romero, we propose the consecration of March 24th as the Latin American Day for Justice and Dignity.

On another hand, we call the Latin American Forum for Peace with the objective of advancing in the reflection and in the definition of the challenges for the construction of peace in the continent. Together with our migrant brothers in Europe and North America, from the Río Bravo to the Patagonia, passing by Mesoamerica, the Caribbean, the Andes and the South Cone, we are children of the great homeland which builds peace and struggles for justice. In the struggle for these ideals the presence of Monsignor Romero feeds us.

This call is promoted by the Latin-American Peace Network (to which SIPAZ belongs) and has also been signed by other organizations, networks and personalities in the continent.