DENVER—Democracy is in danger across Latin America, former Ecuadorean President Gustavo Noboa warned Monday, in a discussion with six other former heads of state from the Western hemisphere.
Noboa’s remarks drew some of the loudest applause from the hundreds at a Denver opera house when, with an emphatic tone, he denounced presidents who he said were running dictatorships under the veil of democracy. He didn’t name any countries. He said democracy in some countries existed only in the sense that they hold elections.
“But once presidents take power, through subsidies for the poor, reforms are often made to constitutions,” he said. “So what we’re finding is a president becomes elected and lasts four years and then is re-elected and then he is there for another four years and is re-elected and is there for another four years, and on and on, and so we have to ask ourselves, ‘Is this really democracy?'”
The seven former presidents from Ecuador, Peru, Panama, Argentina, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic, were in Denver to talk about a “Social Agenda for Democracy in Latin America,” which includes policy recommendations developed by former heads of state on topics such as health, climate change, and poverty.
But the former presidents also talked about the U.S. embargo of Cuba and Arizona’s new immigration law during the forum that was part of the “Biennial of the Americas,” a monthlong culture and arts event.
Former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo took on the question of the Western hemisphere relationship’s with Cuba when none of the other former presidents spoke up after the forum’s moderator brought up the topic.
“Anyone?” moderator Jim Polsfut said after there was a long pause.
“We need to learn from our past and from our strengths and mistakes,” Toledo said. “I think it has been a mistake, the blockade of Cuba,” he said to applause. He later added, “I still dream for the day to have a Cuba libre.”
Former Argentinian President Fernando de la Rua said Arizona’s new immigration law is worrisome and could create the “possibility of a new kind of discrimination.”
“Really, we are very preoccupied with this kind of laws,” he said. Arizona’s new law takes effect July 29 if it survives a legal challenge by the federal government. It requires police to question people about their immigration status while enforcing other laws if there’s reason to suspect someone is in the country illegally.
Former Guatemalan President Vinicio Cerezo said Latin American leaders should focus on solving their countries problems so less people feel compelled to move to the U.S.
The other former presidents at the forum were Nicolas Ardito Barletta, of Panama; Rodrigo Borja, of Ecuador; and Hipolito Mejia, of the Dominican Republic.
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