The poor people in Latin America deserve more respect and help than they are getting today, and “profit” should never be the sole goal a society pursues in the free market system, said Bishop Raul Vera López of Mexico, who delivered a keynote speech Thursday.
López, whose speech was part of the first day of the symposium “Smoldering Ashes: Revisiting the Legacy of the Cold War in Central America,” told a crowd of about 200 in the EMU Ballroom that several countries in Latin America adopted a system known as “neoliberalism,” which is based on a purely economic conception of man. This system considers profit and the law of the market as its only parameters while neglecting dignity and respect for individuals, he said.
At times, this system has become the ideological justification for certain attitudes and behaviors in social and political spheres, leading to the neglect of the weaker members of society, he said. In reality, the poor in Latin America are more
numerous than ever and are
becoming victims of specific economic policies and structures that are often unjust.
López said he doesn’t think globalization is a good policy for social justice in the world, especially in Latin America. A few extremely rich members of a society currently control nearly all the profitable
industries in Latin America, he
said, while ordinary people have nearly nothing.
“It’s not about good luck and bad luck; it’s about the unjust social and economic systems,” he said.
He said the globalized economy must be analyzed in light of the principles of social justice, adding that it must respect the poor’s options to work with dignity.
Citing his trips to Latin American countries, López said he found some conditions are increasing while others are decreasing. Among those increasing are poverty rates, working hours, river and air pollution, drug use, violence and destruction of natural resources. Those decreasing include the middle class, education, peace and security, natural resources and most importantly, hope.
To turn things around, he said people’s right to work with dignity should be guaranteed and that a system or constitution embracing social justice should be established in Latin American countries.
After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, a global war on terrorism began; López said poverty is one of the motivations driving terrorists. In order to get rid of the problem, all countries should also think about what they could do to decrease poverty in the developing world, he said.
In the hour-long speech, López’s passion and dedication to poverty relief elicited a large applause from the audience.
Graduate student Bob Reinhardt said he was impressed by the speech, especially López’s passion about poverty in Latin America.
“I really appreciate his focus on the (economic) structure that causes problems, … and he really did a good job tying those problems to the situation that we have here
in the United States, like immigration and terrorism,” he said. “It’s very interesting.”
Megan DeBates, an environmental studies major, said she is concerned more about the pollution issue López raised. She suggested that University students could do something such as refusing to purchase commodities from those
nations that are heavily polluted to urge those governments to improve their environment.
Father David Orique of St. Thomas More Newman Center said López’s speech would help University students better understand the reality of people’s struggle in Latin America and urge them to do whatever they can to support poverty-alleviating efforts.