Latin American Network of Peace Builders

a. a. Establishment

Pursuant to the information on the Network's web page (www.redlapaz.net), it is worthwhile to note the following:

• In 1994, Center of Popular Investigation and Education (CINEP, Columbia), the Catholic Committee against Hunger and for Development (CCFD, France) and the Foundation Charles Leopold Mayer for Human Progress (FPH, France), proposed to develop a Latin American network for solidarity and peace. That same year they held a International Seminar about Negotiation of Armed Conflicts in Colombia. This event yielded notable participation of Latin American’s experiences. However, its attendance was principally Colombian.
• In 1995 a similar meeting to the previous one was held in regards to the role of civil society and the development of peace, this time in conjunction with International Alert. Again, this meeting reflected specific Latin American issues.
• In 1996, a seminar was held by ‘Convivencia y Solidaridad en America Latina’ (Solidarity and Coexistence in Latin America). This also came to pass in Colombia and whose objectives were “the enrichment of the exchange of experiences and to strengthen the initiatives in favor of peace in the region through the exercise of solidarity”. They tried to develop an agenda of common actions from the analysis of the present leading to reconstruction of coexistence, the situation of human rights and the state of citizen’s participation. The Final Declaration declared that “Despite all that has happened and is happening in Latin America its peoples continue to survive, in general- the great absences of the processes with which, until now, have pretended to democratize the region. Designed from outside and in accord with the observations the processes have not won construction of sturdy house for all, founded in regards to human rights, democratic participation and social justice and peace.

Since 1996, a common central agenda was defined centered in the three areas of the interests of all:

• The fight against impunity
• The education for peace as a necessity in the development of people capable of reaching it. The goal was to promote an exchange supporting experiences, information and proposals, with a wider dimension, larger than that of school or popular education, and which took into account the strategies of construction of public opinion.
• To carry out regional meetings

b. b. Current Integrations

There is no actual board of directors. All the organizations participated in all areas. Five countries have regularly come and participated (Colombia, El Salvador, Peru, Guatemala and Mexico). In some meetings other countries have participated, Honduras, for example.

Nodes have been established, which is to say people/organizations as key contacts in each and every country integral to the Network. Their function is to facilitate the communication between the meetings.

c.Vision

It has not been explicitly stated in a written document, however, it is noted that the interests and priorities have continued to change under an overhaul of those that were carried out (see continuation).

d. Mission

Recovery of local and regional experiences of alternative development, as well as the new political and civil participatory practices in the peace processes to extract pertinent lessons, with the goal of promoting strategies of holistic peace according to each context.

e. General Objectives

At least three focuses are repeated in specific areas:

• The interrelation of the distinct civil and social actors who have adopted the peace process in their sphere: national, Latin American and world- wide.
• The development of the concepts and strategies of peace, including the basic of gathering recent experiences, including those referring to internal wars, such as those that relate to social struggle for justice and conditions of participation and dispute democratic projects- the key lessons and experiences which allow us to illuminate it.
• The articulation of the peace-builder’s experiences and movementswith a position of commitment to the causes and popular processes.

f. Focuses of work and activities already carried-out

Basically, after the Colombian meeting in 1996, in which the Network was established, they organized meetings in specific places in Latin America:

The first meeting they gave in the framework of the regional event the was the Meeting of Educators for Peace and Human Rights ‘Paulo Freire’, this took place in Guatemala City, on November of 1997. They reflected on education for Peace. In the final accords it is worthwhile to emphasize the proposals to carryout the actions together against military spending, with regards to the fifty years of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in favor of the objection of awareness from youth, against domestic violence, etc. Also, they agreed upon regulations to share experiences and lessons between the institutions and the region.

A second Meeting took place in Mexico in December of 1998. Participants reflected on the role of civil society, which delved into the relations between peace, democracy and development. They saw the need for precise actions on incidents that will influence the course of processes in distinct Latin American countries.

A third Meeting was organized in Santa Cruz de la Sierra (Bolivia), in April of 2001. The objective (after three years without achieving shared activities) was to analyze the situation in the region and redefine the compromises in favor of peace. Participants reaffirmed the “need for a strategic forum for the Latin American articulation to move forward the strengthening of the participation of the actors, both social and civil, particularly in excluded sectors, in the development of peaceful coexistence founded on justice and dignity”.

The fourth Meeting was held in Piura, Peru in May of 2002. In general they stated not only great frustration in the face of the practices of democracy that confronts neoliberalism and its negative impacts, but also in facing the processes of peace where these have advanced towards the cessation of the fire. Today the pressure for the completion of expected growth and of legitimate rights places peaceful coexistence in danger. They concluded that it is necessary to continue to gather the local and regional experiences of alternative development, as well as the new political practices and civil participation in the peace processes so as to bring out the pertinent lessons.

In 2003, from San Salvador, the Latin American Network of Peace Builders sought to summon a campaign “En nuestra América, otra paz es posible”. (In our America another peace is possible.)

It had to include the following:

• Integration of “nodes” in the Network and committees with a much broader impulse, which is discussed and adapted in the “Document of Work,” with the goal of nationally convoking the campaign
• Implement a process for national meetings or workshops, which focus on unitary and plurality, so as to systematize and share: Diagnosis and characterization in the world situation, Latin America and national. Conception of Peace and linking peace with other agendas/ lessons learned. Challenges and alternatives for a new social process built around Peace.
• Realization of a National Forum in each country that would respond to this summon and would gather the preparation process and elaborate a national document to share on a Latin American level.
• Integration of a Latin American work group with an interdisciplinary vision, which at the basic level of the national documents reflects and elaborates upon regional proposals regarding “Social conflicts, armed movements and Peace processes in Latin America and the Caribbean”.
• To carry out in Bogotá the Latin American Forum “EN NUESTRA AMÉRICA, OTRA PAZ ES POSIBLE” (In our America Another Peace is Possible), planned for May of 2004 to summarize the regional process and establish new commitments in the search for just and lasting peace for Latin America.

However, this campaign fell short of expectations. In 2004 various nodes of the Latin American Network coincided in the Social Forum of the Americas, which took place in Quito, Ecuador at the end of July. They decided to re-launch the Network with new force.

They translated this through the participation of the FSM of Porto Alegre in January of 2005 (the convening of a seminar and two reunions of the nodes) and the participation of the Forum “Verdad, Justicia y Paz” (Truth, Justice and Peace) in San Salvador at the end of March.

In San Salvador they launched the Llamado Romero (Romero’s Calling) that created three concrete works until the V Meeting in Colombia at the end of October:

• Establish the 24^th of March as Latin American Day for Peace with Justice and Dignity Day.
• Concurrently with a large meeting of the Latin American Network in October, to convene at the Forum “Paz seguridad y resistencia” (Peace, Security and Resistance”, also in Colombia.
• Create a Comisión Romero (Romero Commission) composed by people who can testify to specific conflicts or travesties in the continent.