Poverty in Latin America Is Not the Result of Scarce Resources but rather of Inequality, President of Ecuador

Santiago, May 16, 2014.- "Poverty in Latin America is not the result of scarce resources but rather of inequality," Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa said during a keynote speech at the headquarters of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) in Santiago, Chile.

According to the head of state, inequality must be tackled by changing the power relationships within societies through deeply democratic processes. Science, technology, innovation and human talent are crucial to development, Correa said.

External restrictions also determine development processes, so it is necessary to promote the integration of countries in the region, he stressed. Integration "is the only way to achieve our second, definitive independence," he added.

At ECLAC, Rafael Correa was received by Alicia Bárcena, the Executive Secretary of this United Nations regional commission, who welcomed him on behalf of the institution. Chilean Foreign Affairs Minister Heraldo Muñoz also participated in the event.

Correa called for the creation of a "new Latin American thinking." In this sense, he emphasized "the substantial contributions to the economic, political and social thinking that ECLAC has made to our region”.

The president spoke to an audience made up of national authorities, diplomats, international officials, ecclesiastical representatives and members of civil society. Among the special guests was former Chilean President Patricio Aylwin.

In her speech, Alicia Bárcena reminded participants that ECLAC just held in Lima, Peru, its Thirty-fifth session-the institution's most important biannual meeting-where it presented the latest strategic proposal for the region, contained in the document Compacts for Equality: Towards a Sustainable Future.

The senior official noted similarities between ECLAC's proposals-which advocate for development with equality and environmental sustainability in Latin America and the Caribbean-and the foundations of some Ecuadorian government policies, such as the National Plan for Good Living.

"President, together we share the conviction that the time for equality has come in Latin America and that only through the expansion of rights can we deepen democracy, as a collective norm and a shared global concept," Bárcena said.

The keynote speech, which took place in the context of the President's official visit to Chile with a large group of male and female ministers, was organized in conjunction with various national institutions such as the Center for Memory and the Future, the Salvador Allende and Clodomiro Almeyda foundations, the University of Chile radio station, and the Academy of Christian Humanism University.