Foro de São Paulo
Encyclopedia
Foro de São Paulo is a conference of left-leaning political parties
and other organizations from Latin America and the Caribbean. It was launched by the Workers' Party
of Brazil in 1990 in the city of São Paulo
.
The Forum of São Paulo was constituted in 1990 when the Brazilian Workers' Party
approached other parties and social movements of Latin America and the Caribbean with the objective of debating the new international scenario after the fall of the Berlin Wall
and the consequences of the implementation of what were taken as neoliberal policies adopted at the time by contemporary right-leaning governments in the region, the stated main objective of the conference being to argue for alternatives to neoliberalism
.
The first meeting, held in São Paulo, on July 1990, was attended by members of 48 parties and organizations from Latin American and the Caribbean. The original name given to the meeting was Meeting of Left and Anti-imperialist Parties and Organizations of Latin America . In 1991, in Mexico City
, the meeting started being called, alternatively, Foro de São Paulo, in reference to the location of the first meeting. The following meetings were held in Managua
(1992), Havana
(1993), Montevideo
(1995), San Salvador
(1996), Porto Alegre
(1997), Mexico City (1998), Managua (2000), Havana (2001), Antigua Guatemala
(2002), Quito
(2003), São Paulo (2005), San Salvador (2007), Montevideo (2008), Mexico City (2009) and Buenos Aires
(2010).
The Foro's chief authority is its meeting itself; between meetings, the Foro is represented by an Executive Group (Grupo de Trabalho) composed of a sample of its overall membership, that usually meets thrice a year, as well as by an Executive Secretariat (Secretariado Executivo).
and nationalist organizations, communist parties, and armed guerrilla forces. The latter, however, is true only so far as one is willingly to think of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia
as an actual member of the FSP, when actually the FARC, although never formally banned from the Forum, have been barred from participating of its meetings as early as 2005, when they were refused admittance to this year's meeting of the FSP in São Paulo.
These groups differ on a range of topics which go from the use of armed force in revolutions to the support of representative democracy. The Cuban Communist Party, for example, has adopted a single-party system for decades, while Brazil's Workers' Party (PT) supports and participates in a multiparty system. These differences grant special relevance to FSP's final declarations, released at the end of each conference, which state the collective position of its members.
Ever since FSP's first meeting (1990), the Declaration which was approved expressed the participants' "willingness to renew leftist and socialist thought, to reaffirm its emancipating character, to correct mistaken conceptions, and to overcome all expressions of bureaucratism and all absence of true social and massive democracy."
The first Declaration manifests "an active compromise with the validity of human rights, of democracy and of popular sovereignty as strategic values, which place the constant challenge of leftist, socialist and progressive forces renewing their thoughts and actions."
At the second conference (Mexico, 1991), FSP expanded its objectives to add the proposal of working toward Latin American integration, an interchange of experiences, the discussion of the political left's differences and searching for consensus in action. The following conferences reinstate the participants' willingness to exchange experiences and develop a dialogue, while at the regional and continental level FSP's influence grows, with some of its members achieving electoral success and their candidates reaching the presidency of many countries.
During the early 1990s, the FSP was seem by some as expressing the emergence of a new Latin American leftist paradigm: non- authoritarian, de-militarized and grassroots-friendly. As others have noted, however, there is a marked contradiction between the fiery and quasi-revolutionary rhetoric about "socialism of the XXIst Century" indulged in sometimes by many FSP's leaders, and the plain fact that the positions of power held by such leaders depend, on most cases, on their holding positions in governments which have emerged through the electoral road. In a statement made in 2008 in Lima
, before a gathering of Peruvian businessmen, however, Brazil's President Lula would declare, approvingly, that the FSP had "educated" the Left in the understanding of the existence of possibilities of running for elections and gaining power through the democratic way - - a declaration that prompted a comment from AFP
, reproduced at the Rede Globo
site, to the effect that the hallmark of FSP's activities had been its "very moderate" character. Nevertheless, almost since its inception, the FSP has been the target to various Extreme Right screeds in the United States and Latin America, describing it as an organization promoting terrorism and/or a revival of communism, something regarded even by mainstream conservatives as unfounded and "exaggerated to say the least". The allegedly subversive character of the Foro's activities, however, was revived during the 2010 Brazilian presidential election campaign, as the vice-presidential candidate in the José Serra
ticket, Antônio Pedro de Siqueira Indio da Costa
, denounced repeatedly the supposed connection, by way of the Foro, between the Brazilian Workers' Party and the FARC.
During the fifth meeting (Montevideo, 1995) a dispute arose about the attendance of the Movimiento Bolivia Libre, which was charged, in a motion presented by ten parties, led by Argentina's Partido Obrero, of support to the repressive actions of the neoliberal government of Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada
in Bolivia. The refusal of the motion by the Foro's plenum led to the permanent withdrawal of Partido Obrero from the meeting. Partido Obrero had already declared itself in opposition to the Foro's positions, having previously made public a note in which it protested against the change in the official name of the organization, as " offering evidence of putting, in the place of actual making of common policies, a kind of purely academic workshop, [a sure sign] of conscious depoliticization leading eventually to the cover-up of rightist policies".
During the XIIth. meeting in El Salvador, it was resolved that the Foro should organize a number of subordinate organizations and facilities: an electronic bulletin on the Net, a politic-cultural festival, an electoral observatory and a cadre school.
In the final declaration of the FSP's XIVth meeting in Montevideo, there is a reinstatement and updating of the Foro's goals: to aid "the progressive forces in the continent who are in power and strive in various ways to build projects which - according to each country's particular characteristics - allow them to face the main problems generated by neoliberalism" - something which added to the statemente made at the same time by Belela Herrera, International Relations chargé of the Uruguayan Broad Front
, that issues like ecology
, exclusion, racism
and xenophobia
had added themselves inseparably to the Left's traditional agenda. The XIVth. meeting also debated the ongoing Colombian armed conflict
, which prompted a declaration by the International Relations Secretary of the Brazilian Workers' Party, Valter Pomar, who exposed what in his view was the Foro's general stance towards the current Colombian situation: "In Colombia we have a military confrontation that has been going on for decades, having as its players the [Colombian] State, as well as the paramilitary and insurgent forces. The Foro is interested in achieving peace and in having a negotiated process towards reaching this goal".
In the XVth. meeting, which opened on August 20. 2009 in Mexico City, the Foro was expected to concentrate discussion on the 2009 Honduran constitutional crisis
as well as engaging in efforts to the restoration of the deposed Honduran president Manuel Zelaya
. The Vice president of the Mexican Senate, Yeidckol Polenvsky, has invited the Honduran MP Silvia Ayala, as a member of the Democratic Unification Party
and leader of the manifestations in support of Zelaya held in San Pedro Sula
, to attend the meeting - something that attracted the fury of the pro- current government Honduran press.
The ongoing meeting in Mexico will also be the first to organize a parallel youth meeting, where member parties will discuss the impact of the global economic crisis on Latin American youth and the responses that could be offered to it.
In January 2010, the European Left - the broad front of European Community national Left parties formed in view of a common stand in European politics - at the opening of its Third Congress, expressed its interest in strengthening ties with the FSP
- Evo Morales
(Movement For Socialism
) - Dilma Rousseff
(Workers' Party
) - Raúl Castro
(Communist Party of Cuba
) - Roosevelt Skerrit
(Dominica Labor Party) - Leonel Antonio Fernández Reyna (Dominican Liberation Party
) - Rafael Correa
(PAIS Alliance) - Mauricio Funes
(Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front
) - Daniel Ortega
(Sandinista National Liberation Front
) - Fernando Lugo
(Patriotic Alliance for Change
) - Ollanta Humala
(Peruvian Nationalist Party
) - José Mujica
(Broad Front
) - Hugo Chávez
(United Socialist Party of Venezuela
)
- Socialist Party of Chile
- Citizens' Action Party
- Party of the Democratic Revolution
- The Front for Victory
of Argentina
under the presidency of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner
.
Political Parties
Political Parties: A Sociological Study of the Oligarchical Tendencies of Modern Democracy is a book by sociologist Robert Michels, published in 1911 , and first introducing the concept of iron law of oligarchy...
and other organizations from Latin America and the Caribbean. It was launched by the Workers' Party
Workers' Party (Brazil)
The Workers' Party is a democratic socialist political party in Brazil. Launched in 1980, it is recognized as one of the largest and most important left-wing movements of Latin America. It governs at the federal level in a coalition government with several other parties since January 1, 2003...
of Brazil in 1990 in the city of São Paulo
São Paulo
São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among...
.
The Forum of São Paulo was constituted in 1990 when the Brazilian Workers' Party
Workers' Party (Brazil)
The Workers' Party is a democratic socialist political party in Brazil. Launched in 1980, it is recognized as one of the largest and most important left-wing movements of Latin America. It governs at the federal level in a coalition government with several other parties since January 1, 2003...
approached other parties and social movements of Latin America and the Caribbean with the objective of debating the new international scenario after the fall of the Berlin Wall
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin...
and the consequences of the implementation of what were taken as neoliberal policies adopted at the time by contemporary right-leaning governments in the region, the stated main objective of the conference being to argue for alternatives to neoliberalism
Neoliberalism
Neoliberalism is a market-driven approach to economic and social policy based on neoclassical theories of economics that emphasizes the efficiency of private enterprise, liberalized trade and relatively open markets, and therefore seeks to maximize the role of the private sector in determining the...
.
The first meeting, held in São Paulo, on July 1990, was attended by members of 48 parties and organizations from Latin American and the Caribbean. The original name given to the meeting was Meeting of Left and Anti-imperialist Parties and Organizations of Latin America . In 1991, in Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
, the meeting started being called, alternatively, Foro de São Paulo, in reference to the location of the first meeting. The following meetings were held in Managua
Managua
Managua is the capital city of Nicaragua as well as the department and municipality by the same name. It is the largest city in Nicaragua in terms of population and geographic size. Located on the southwestern shore of Lake Xolotlán or Lake Managua, the city was declared the national capital in...
(1992), Havana
Havana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
(1993), Montevideo
Montevideo
Montevideo is the largest city, the capital, and the chief port of Uruguay. The settlement was established in 1726 by Bruno Mauricio de Zabala, as a strategic move amidst a Spanish-Portuguese dispute over the platine region, and as a counter to the Portuguese colony at Colonia del Sacramento...
(1995), San Salvador
San Salvador
The city of San Salvador the capital and largest city of El Salvador, which has been designated a Gamma World City. Its complete name is La Ciudad de Gran San Salvador...
(1996), Porto Alegre
Porto Alegre
Porto Alegre is the tenth most populous municipality in Brazil, with 1,409,939 inhabitants, and the centre of Brazil's fourth largest metropolitan area . It is also the capital city of the southernmost Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. The city is the southernmost capital city of a Brazilian...
(1997), Mexico City (1998), Managua (2000), Havana (2001), Antigua Guatemala
Antigua Guatemala
Antigua Guatemala is a city in the central highlands of Guatemala famous for its well-preserved Spanish Mudéjar-influenced Baroque architecture as well as a number of spectacular ruins of colonial churches...
(2002), Quito
Quito
San Francisco de Quito, most often called Quito , is the capital city of Ecuador in northwestern South America. It is located in north-central Ecuador in the Guayllabamba river basin, on the eastern slopes of Pichincha, an active stratovolcano in the Andes mountains...
(2003), São Paulo (2005), San Salvador (2007), Montevideo (2008), Mexico City (2009) and Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
(2010).
The Foro's chief authority is its meeting itself; between meetings, the Foro is represented by an Executive Group (Grupo de Trabalho) composed of a sample of its overall membership, that usually meets thrice a year, as well as by an Executive Secretariat (Secretariado Executivo).
Political stands
According to FSP, more than 100 parties and political organizations participate in its conferences today. Their political positions vary across a wide spectrum, which includes: social-democratic parties, left-wing grass-roots labor and social movements inspired by the Catholic Church, ethnic and environmentalist groups, anti-imperialistAnti-imperialism
Anti-imperialism, strictly speaking, is a term that may be applied to a movement opposed to any form of colonialism or imperialism. Anti-imperialism includes opposition to wars of conquest, particularly of non-contiguous territory or people with a different language or culture; it also includes...
and nationalist organizations, communist parties, and armed guerrilla forces. The latter, however, is true only so far as one is willingly to think of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People's Army is a Marxist–Leninist revolutionary guerrilla organization based in Colombia which is involved in the ongoing Colombian armed conflict, currently involved in drug dealing and crimes against the civilians..FARC-EP is a peasant army which...
as an actual member of the FSP, when actually the FARC, although never formally banned from the Forum, have been barred from participating of its meetings as early as 2005, when they were refused admittance to this year's meeting of the FSP in São Paulo.
These groups differ on a range of topics which go from the use of armed force in revolutions to the support of representative democracy. The Cuban Communist Party, for example, has adopted a single-party system for decades, while Brazil's Workers' Party (PT) supports and participates in a multiparty system. These differences grant special relevance to FSP's final declarations, released at the end of each conference, which state the collective position of its members.
Ever since FSP's first meeting (1990), the Declaration which was approved expressed the participants' "willingness to renew leftist and socialist thought, to reaffirm its emancipating character, to correct mistaken conceptions, and to overcome all expressions of bureaucratism and all absence of true social and massive democracy."
The first Declaration manifests "an active compromise with the validity of human rights, of democracy and of popular sovereignty as strategic values, which place the constant challenge of leftist, socialist and progressive forces renewing their thoughts and actions."
At the second conference (Mexico, 1991), FSP expanded its objectives to add the proposal of working toward Latin American integration, an interchange of experiences, the discussion of the political left's differences and searching for consensus in action. The following conferences reinstate the participants' willingness to exchange experiences and develop a dialogue, while at the regional and continental level FSP's influence grows, with some of its members achieving electoral success and their candidates reaching the presidency of many countries.
During the early 1990s, the FSP was seem by some as expressing the emergence of a new Latin American leftist paradigm: non- authoritarian, de-militarized and grassroots-friendly. As others have noted, however, there is a marked contradiction between the fiery and quasi-revolutionary rhetoric about "socialism of the XXIst Century" indulged in sometimes by many FSP's leaders, and the plain fact that the positions of power held by such leaders depend, on most cases, on their holding positions in governments which have emerged through the electoral road. In a statement made in 2008 in Lima
Lima
Lima is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín rivers, in the central part of the country, on a desert coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Together with the seaport of Callao, it forms a contiguous urban area known as the Lima...
, before a gathering of Peruvian businessmen, however, Brazil's President Lula would declare, approvingly, that the FSP had "educated" the Left in the understanding of the existence of possibilities of running for elections and gaining power through the democratic way - - a declaration that prompted a comment from AFP
Agence France-Presse
Agence France-Presse is a French news agency, the oldest one in the world, and one of the three largest with Associated Press and Reuters. It is also the largest French news agency. Currently, its CEO is Emmanuel Hoog and its news director Philippe Massonnet...
, reproduced at the Rede Globo
Rede Globo
Rede Globo , or simply Globo, is a Brazilian television network, launched by media mogul Roberto Marinho on April 26, 1965. It is owned by media conglomerate Organizações Globo, being by far the largest of its holdings...
site, to the effect that the hallmark of FSP's activities had been its "very moderate" character. Nevertheless, almost since its inception, the FSP has been the target to various Extreme Right screeds in the United States and Latin America, describing it as an organization promoting terrorism and/or a revival of communism, something regarded even by mainstream conservatives as unfounded and "exaggerated to say the least". The allegedly subversive character of the Foro's activities, however, was revived during the 2010 Brazilian presidential election campaign, as the vice-presidential candidate in the José Serra
José Serra
José Serra is a Brazilian politician, former secretary of state, congressman, senator, minister of Planning and Minister of Health, mayor of São Paulo and Governor of São Paulo state.-Background:...
ticket, Antônio Pedro de Siqueira Indio da Costa
Antônio Pedro de Siqueira Indio da Costa
Antônio Pedro de Siqueira Indio da Costa is a Brazilian lawyer and politician in the Brazilian Democrats Party...
, denounced repeatedly the supposed connection, by way of the Foro, between the Brazilian Workers' Party and the FARC.
During the fifth meeting (Montevideo, 1995) a dispute arose about the attendance of the Movimiento Bolivia Libre, which was charged, in a motion presented by ten parties, led by Argentina's Partido Obrero, of support to the repressive actions of the neoliberal government of Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada
Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada
Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada y Sánchez de Bustamante , familiarly known as "Goni", is a Bolivian politician, businessman, and former President of Bolivia. A lifelong member of the Movimiento Nacionalista Revolucionario , he is credited for using "shock therapy", the economic theory championed by then...
in Bolivia. The refusal of the motion by the Foro's plenum led to the permanent withdrawal of Partido Obrero from the meeting. Partido Obrero had already declared itself in opposition to the Foro's positions, having previously made public a note in which it protested against the change in the official name of the organization, as " offering evidence of putting, in the place of actual making of common policies, a kind of purely academic workshop, [a sure sign] of conscious depoliticization leading eventually to the cover-up of rightist policies".
During the XIIth. meeting in El Salvador, it was resolved that the Foro should organize a number of subordinate organizations and facilities: an electronic bulletin on the Net, a politic-cultural festival, an electoral observatory and a cadre school.
In the final declaration of the FSP's XIVth meeting in Montevideo, there is a reinstatement and updating of the Foro's goals: to aid "the progressive forces in the continent who are in power and strive in various ways to build projects which - according to each country's particular characteristics - allow them to face the main problems generated by neoliberalism" - something which added to the statemente made at the same time by Belela Herrera, International Relations chargé of the Uruguayan Broad Front
Broad Front (Uruguay)
The Broad Front is a Uruguayan left-wing coalition of political parties. It is led by Jorge Brovetto. Frente Amplio has close ties with PIT-CNT trade union and the cooperative housing movement.-History:...
, that issues like ecology
Ecology
Ecology is the scientific study of the relations that living organisms have with respect to each other and their natural environment. Variables of interest to ecologists include the composition, distribution, amount , number, and changing states of organisms within and among ecosystems...
, exclusion, racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
and xenophobia
Xenophobia
Xenophobia is defined as "an unreasonable fear of foreigners or strangers or of that which is foreign or strange". It comes from the Greek words ξένος , meaning "stranger," "foreigner" and φόβος , meaning "fear."...
had added themselves inseparably to the Left's traditional agenda. The XIVth. meeting also debated the ongoing Colombian armed conflict
Colombian Armed Conflict
The Colombian armed conflict or Colombian Civil War are terms that are employed to refer to the current asymmetric low-intensity armed conflict in Colombia that has existed since approximately 1964 or 1966, between the Colombian government and peasant guerrillas such as the Revolutionary Armed...
, which prompted a declaration by the International Relations Secretary of the Brazilian Workers' Party, Valter Pomar, who exposed what in his view was the Foro's general stance towards the current Colombian situation: "In Colombia we have a military confrontation that has been going on for decades, having as its players the [Colombian] State, as well as the paramilitary and insurgent forces. The Foro is interested in achieving peace and in having a negotiated process towards reaching this goal".
In the XVth. meeting, which opened on August 20. 2009 in Mexico City, the Foro was expected to concentrate discussion on the 2009 Honduran constitutional crisis
2009 Honduran constitutional crisis
The 2009 Honduran constitutional crisis was a political dispute over plans to rewrite the Constitution of Honduras, which culminated in a coup d'état against Honduran President Manuel Zelaya by the Honduran military...
as well as engaging in efforts to the restoration of the deposed Honduran president Manuel Zelaya
Manuel Zelaya
José Manuel Zelaya Rosales is a politician who was President of Honduras from January 27, 2006 until June 28, 2009. The eldest son of a wealthy businessman, he inherited his father's nickname "Mel," and, before entering politics, was involved in his family's logging and timber businesses.Elected...
. The Vice president of the Mexican Senate, Yeidckol Polenvsky, has invited the Honduran MP Silvia Ayala, as a member of the Democratic Unification Party
Democratic Unification Party
The Democratic Unification Party is a left-wing political party in Honduras. PUD was founded on 29 September 1992 by the merger of four leftist clandestine or semiclandestine political parties, in the context of the changed political situation in Central America at that period, following the end...
and leader of the manifestations in support of Zelaya held in San Pedro Sula
San Pedro Sula
San Pedro Sula is a city in Honduras. It is located in the northwest corner of the country, in the Valle de Sula , about 60 km south of Puerto Cortés on the Caribbean. With an estimated population of 638,259 people in the main municipality, and 802,598 in its metro area , it is the second...
, to attend the meeting - something that attracted the fury of the pro- current government Honduran press.
The ongoing meeting in Mexico will also be the first to organize a parallel youth meeting, where member parties will discuss the impact of the global economic crisis on Latin American youth and the responses that could be offered to it.
In January 2010, the European Left - the broad front of European Community national Left parties formed in view of a common stand in European politics - at the opening of its Third Congress, expressed its interest in strengthening ties with the FSP
In Government
The following countries are currently being governed by leaders and member parties of the Foro de São Paulo:- Evo Morales
Evo Morales
Juan Evo Morales Ayma , popularly known as Evo , is a Bolivian politician and activist, currently serving as the 80th President of Bolivia, a position that he has held since 2006. He is also the leader of both the Movement for Socialism party and the cocalero trade union...
(Movement For Socialism
Movement for Socialism (Bolivia)
The Movement for Socialism-Political Instrument for the Sovereignty of the Peoples , alternately referred to as "Movement Toward Socialism" or "Movement to Socialism", is a left-wing, socialist, Bolivian political organization led by Evo Morales, founded in 1995...
) - Dilma Rousseff
Dilma Rousseff
Dilma Vana Rousseff is the 36th and current President of Brazil. She is the first woman to hold the office. Prior to that, in 2005, she was also the first woman to become Chief of Staff of Brazil, appointed by then President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva....
(Workers' Party
Workers' Party (Brazil)
The Workers' Party is a democratic socialist political party in Brazil. Launched in 1980, it is recognized as one of the largest and most important left-wing movements of Latin America. It governs at the federal level in a coalition government with several other parties since January 1, 2003...
) - Raúl Castro
Raúl Castro
Raúl Modesto Castro Ruz is a Cuban politician and revolutionary who has been President of the Council of State of Cuba and the President of the Council of Ministers of Cuba since 2008; he previously exercised presidential powers in an acting capacity from 2006 to 2008...
(Communist Party of Cuba
Communist Party of Cuba
The Communist Party of Cuba is the governing political party in Cuba. It is a communist party of the Marxist-Leninist model. The Cuban constitution ascribes the role of the Party to be the "leading force of society and of the state"...
) - Roosevelt Skerrit
Roosevelt Skerrit
Roosevelt Skerrit is a Dominican politician who has been Prime Minister of Dominica since 2004; he has also been the Member of Parliament for the Vieille Case constituency since 2000...
(Dominica Labor Party) - Leonel Antonio Fernández Reyna (Dominican Liberation Party
Dominican Liberation Party
The Dominican Liberation Party is one of the main political parties of the Dominican Republic, and has a centrist position.The party has been elected into office thrice now with Leonel Fernández as President of the Dominican Republic in the 1996, 2004 and 2008 elections, though losing in 2000...
) - Rafael Correa
Rafael Correa
Rafael Vicente Correa Delgado born is the President of the Republic of Ecuador and was the president pro tempore of the Union of South American Nations. An economist educated in Ecuador, Belgium and the United States, he was elected President in late 2006 and took office in January 2007...
(PAIS Alliance) - Mauricio Funes
Mauricio Funes
Carlos Mauricio Funes Cartagena is the President of El Salvador. He won the 2009 presidential election as the candidate of the left-wing Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front political party and took office on 1 June 2009.-Biography:Funes is married to Dr. Vanada Pignado, who was involved in...
(Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front
Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front
The Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front is, since 1992, a left-wing political party in El Salvador and formerly a coalition of five revolutionary guerrilla organizations...
) - Daniel Ortega
Daniel Ortega
José Daniel Ortega Saavedra is a Nicaraguan politician and revolutionary, currently serving as the 83rd President of Nicaragua, a position that he has held since 2007. He previously served as the 79th President, between 1985 and 1990, and for much of his life, has been a leader in the Sandinista...
(Sandinista National Liberation Front
Sandinista National Liberation Front
The Sandinista National Liberation Front is a socialist political party in Nicaragua. Its members are called Sandinistas in both English and Spanish...
) - Fernando Lugo
Fernando Lugo
Fernando Armindo Lugo Méndez is the current President of Paraguay and a former Roman Catholic bishop of the Diocese of San Pedro.-Early life:...
(Patriotic Alliance for Change
Patriotic Alliance for Change
The Patriotic Alliance for Change is a center-left and left-wing Paraguayan political alliance consisting of eight parties in a governing coalition:*Radical Liberal Party*Febrerista Revolutionary Party*National Encounter Party...
) - Ollanta Humala
Ollanta Humala
Ollanta Moisés Humala Tasso is a Peruvian politician and the President of Peru. Humala, who previously served as an army officer, lost the presidential election in 2006 but won the 2011 presidential election in a run-off vote...
(Peruvian Nationalist Party
Peruvian Nationalist Party
The Peruvian Nationalist Party is a political party in Peru. The ideology of the party is wrongly considered to be nationalism with strong ties to the Movimiento Etnocacerista.Ollanta Humala was the Peruvian Nationalist Party's...
) - José Mujica
José Mujica
José Alberto "Pepe" Mujica Cordano is a Uruguayan politician and former guerrilla fighter, a member of the Broad Front and current President of Uruguay....
(Broad Front
Broad Front (Uruguay)
The Broad Front is a Uruguayan left-wing coalition of political parties. It is led by Jorge Brovetto. Frente Amplio has close ties with PIT-CNT trade union and the cooperative housing movement.-History:...
) - Hugo Chávez
Hugo Chávez
Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías is the 56th and current President of Venezuela, having held that position since 1999. He was formerly the leader of the Fifth Republic Movement political party from its foundation in 1997 until 2007, when he became the leader of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela...
(United Socialist Party of Venezuela
United Socialist Party of Venezuela
The United Socialist Party of Venezuela is the name of a democratic socialist political party in Venezuela which resulted from the fusion of some of the political and social forces that support the Bolivarian Revolution led by incumbent President Hugo Chávez...
)
As Main Opposition
The following countries had members of the Foro de São Paulo as the main opposition parties in their parliaments and/or were the second electoral force in the past elections:- Socialist Party of Chile
Socialist Party of Chile
The Socialist Party of Chile is a political party, that is part of the center-left Coalition of Parties for Democracy coalition. Its historical leader was the late President of Chile Salvador Allende Gossens, who was deposed by General Pinochet in 1973...
- Citizens' Action Party
Citizens' Action Party
The Citizen's Action Party is a left-leaning political party in Costa Rica.Its platform is based on encouraging citizen participation and involvement in politics. One of its guiding ideals is to fight against corruption, arguing that it is one of the main causes of subdevelopment and voter apathy...
- Party of the Democratic Revolution
Party of the Democratic Revolution
The Party of the Democratic Revolution is a democratic socialist party in Mexico and one of 2 Mexican affiliates of the Socialist International...
Aligned governments
The following center-left parties though not members of the forum maintain good relations and have been integrated with the members who are currently in government:- The Front for Victory
Front for Victory
The Front for Victory is a Peronist political party and electoral alliance in Argentina, although it is formally a faction of the Justicialist Party. Both the former President Néstor Kirchner and the current President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner belong to this party, located on the left-wing...
of Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
under the presidency of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner
Cristina Fernández de Kirchner
Cristina Elisabet Fernández de Kirchner , commonly known as Cristina Fernández or Cristina Kirchner is the 55th and current President of Argentina and the widow of former President Néstor Kirchner. She is Argentina's first elected female president, and the second female president ever to serve...
.
List of Official Members
| Country | Name | Government |
|---|---|---|
| Communist Party of Argentina Communist Party of Argentina The Communist Party of Argentina is a communist party from Argentina. It was founded in 1918.At the 2005 legislative elections, the Party joined the Encuentro Amplio with other left-wing parties in Buenos Aires and Buenos Aires Province... |
in opposition | |
| Clement Payne Movement Clement Payne Movement The Clement Payne Movement , is a Barbados based political party named in honor of a man who led a 1937 uprising in Barbados. The Clement Payne Movement is generally seen by most Barbadians as more leftist in ideology when compared to either the more moderate BLP or DLP.The CPM also seeks the... |
no representation | |
| Communist Party of Bolivia Communist Party of Bolivia The Communist Party of Bolivia is a communist party in Bolivia. It was founded in 1950 by Raúl Ruiz González and other former members of the Revolutionary Left Party . It remained small and did not hold its first national party congress until 1959.... |
supportive of govt. | |
| Movement for Socialism Movement for Socialism (Bolivia) The Movement for Socialism-Political Instrument for the Sovereignty of the Peoples , alternately referred to as "Movement Toward Socialism" or "Movement to Socialism", is a left-wing, socialist, Bolivian political organization led by Evo Morales, founded in 1995... |
in government Bolivian general election, 2009 The Bolivian general election, 2009 was held on 6 December, 2009, following a constitutional referendum held on 25 January 2009. Voters elected:*President and Vice President of the Republic.*130 members of the Chamber of Deputies.*36 members of the Senate.... |
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| Workers' Party Workers' Party (Brazil) The Workers' Party is a democratic socialist political party in Brazil. Launched in 1980, it is recognized as one of the largest and most important left-wing movements of Latin America. It governs at the federal level in a coalition government with several other parties since January 1, 2003... Communist Party of Brazil Communist Party of Brazil The Communist Party of Brazil is a political party in Brazil. It has national reach and deep penetration in the trade union and students movements. PCdoB dispute with the Brazilian Communist Party the title of "oldest political party in Brazil"... |
in government | |
| Brazilian Communist Party Brazilian Communist Party (1992) Brazilian Communist Party is a political party in Brazil. It was founded in 1992 by a minority grouping within the original Brazilian Communist Party which in its Tenth Congress decided to abandon communism and disband itself, giving origin to the Popular Socialist Party... |
in opposition | |
| Christian Left Party | in opposition | |
| Communist Party of Chile Communist Party of Chile The Communist Party of Chile is a Chilean political party inspired by the thoughts of Karl Marx and Lenin. It was founded in 1922, as the continuation of the Socialist Workers Party, and in 1934 it established its youth wing, the Communist Youth of Chile .In the last legislative elections in Chile... |
in opposition | |
| Socialist Party of Chile Socialist Party of Chile The Socialist Party of Chile is a political party, that is part of the center-left Coalition of Parties for Democracy coalition. Its historical leader was the late President of Chile Salvador Allende Gossens, who was deposed by General Pinochet in 1973... |
in opposition | |
| Alternative Democratic Pole Alternative Democratic Pole The Alternative Democratic Pole is a political alliance in Colombia, formed by the Independent Democratic Pole and the Democratic Alternative in December 2005... |
in opposition | |
| Colombian Communist Party Colombian Communist Party The Colombian Communist Party or PCC is the legal communist party of Colombia. It was founded in 1930, as the Colombian section of the Comintern... |
in opposition | |
| Broad Front Broad Front Broad Front may refer to:*Broad Front , Argentine political party*Broad Front , Paraguayan political party,... |
in opposition | |
| Communist Party of Cuba Communist Party of Cuba The Communist Party of Cuba is the governing political party in Cuba. It is a communist party of the Marxist-Leninist model. The Cuban constitution ascribes the role of the Party to be the "leading force of society and of the state"... |
official state party Politics of Cuba Cuba is constitutionally defined as a "socialist state guided by the principles of José Martí, and the political ideas of Marx, the father of communist states, Engels and Lenin." The present Constitution also ascribes the role of the Communist Party of Cuba to be the "leading force of society and... |
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| Dominica Labour Party Dominica Labour Party The Dominica Labour Party is a social-democratic political party in Dominica.-History:Founded in 1955 by Phyllis Shand Allfrey and Emmanuel Christopher Loblack, it is the oldest political party in Dominica. It first contested general elections in 1961, winning seven of the eleven seats. In the next... |
in government Dominican general election, 2009 A parliamentary election was held in Dominica on 18 December 2009, to elect the 21 Representatives of the House of Assembly. The incumbent Dominica Labour Party increased its majority to 18 of 21 seats, winning a third term.-Key:... |
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| Dominican Liberation Party Dominican Liberation Party The Dominican Liberation Party is one of the main political parties of the Dominican Republic, and has a centrist position.The party has been elected into office thrice now with Leonel Fernández as President of the Dominican Republic in the 1996, 2004 and 2008 elections, though losing in 2000... |
in government Dominican Republic presidential election, 2008 A presidential election was held in the Dominican Republic on 16 May 2008.A poll from late October 2007 gave the incumbent Leonel Fernández of the centre-right Dominican Liberation Party 42%, construction tycoon Miguel Vargas Maldonado of the centre-left Dominican Revolutionary Party 30% and Amable... |
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| Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front The Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front is, since 1992, a left-wing political party in El Salvador and formerly a coalition of five revolutionary guerrilla organizations... |
in government Salvadoran presidential election, 2009 A presidential election was held in El Salvador on 15 March 2009. The main candidates were Rodrigo Ávila and Mauricio Funes . Funes won the election with 51.3% of the vote.-Polls:... |
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| Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity The Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity is a Guatemalan political party that started as a guerrilla movement but laid down its arms in 1996 and became a legal political party in 1998 after the peace process after the Guatemalan Civil War.-Formation:Since the CIA-backed... |
in opposition | |
| Working People's Alliance Working People's Alliance -History:The party was established in 1974, as an alliance of the Working People's Vanguard Party, the Association for Cultural Relations with Independent Africa, the Indian Political Revolutionary Associates and Ratoon, and became a political party in 1989. The party first contested national... |
in opposition | |
| Communist Party for Independence and Socialism National Council of Popular Committees |
no representation | |
| Party of the Democratic Revolution Party of the Democratic Revolution The Party of the Democratic Revolution is a democratic socialist party in Mexico and one of 2 Mexican affiliates of the Socialist International... Labor Party Labor Party (Mexico) The Labor Party is a nationally recognized political party in Mexico. It was founded on December 8, 1990. The party is currently led by Alberto Anaya.... Popular Socialist Party Popular Socialist Party (Mexico) The Popular Socialist Party is a communist party in Mexico. It was founded in 1948 as the Popular Party by Vicente Lombardo Toledano.... |
in opposition | |
| Sandinista National Liberation Front Sandinista National Liberation Front The Sandinista National Liberation Front is a socialist political party in Nicaragua. Its members are called Sandinistas in both English and Spanish... |
in government Nicaraguan general election, 2006 Nicaragua held a general election on 5 November 2006. The country's voters went to the polls to elect a new President of the Republic and 90 members of the National Assembly, all of whom will serve five-year terms... |
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| Paraguayan Communist Party Paraguayan Communist Party Paraguayan Communist Party is a communist political party in Paraguay. PCP was founded on February 19, 1928. Later it was recognized as a section of the Communist International. It was brutally suppressed during the military regimes of the country. It gained legality for a brief period in 1936 and... |
no representation | |
| Party for a Country of Solidarity | in government Patriotic Alliance for Change The Patriotic Alliance for Change is a center-left and left-wing Paraguayan political alliance consisting of eight parties in a governing coalition:*Radical Liberal Party*Febrerista Revolutionary Party*National Encounter Party... |
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| Peruvian Communist Party Peruvian Communist Party The Peruvian Communist Party is a communist party in Peru. It was founded in 1928 by José Carlos Mariátegui, under the name Partido Socialista del Perú . In 1930 the name was changed to PCP... Socialist Party of Peru Socialist Party of Peru Socialist Party of Peru is a political party in Peru. It was founded in 1930 by Luciano Castillo Colonna, through a split in the Peruvian Communist Party.... Peruvian Nationalist Party Peruvian Nationalist Party The Peruvian Nationalist Party is a political party in Peru. The ideology of the party is wrongly considered to be nationalism with strong ties to the Movimiento Etnocacerista.Ollanta Humala was the Peruvian Nationalist Party's... |
in government | |
| Puerto Rican Nationalist Party Puerto Rican Nationalist Party The Puerto Rican Nationalist Party was founded on September 17, 1922. Its main objective is to work for Puerto Rican Independence.In 1919, José Coll y Cuchí, a member of the Union Party of Puerto Rico, felt that the Union Party was not doing enough for the cause of Puerto Rican independence and he... Socialist Front Socialist Front The Socialist Front is a coalition of far-left and pro-independence political organizations in Puerto Rico. The Socialist Front also includes non-partisan activists.... Hostosian National Independence Movement Hostosian National Independence Movement The Hostosian National Independence Movement is a leftist and pro-independence organization in Puerto Rico.-Formation:The MINH was formed on May 6, 2004, by a merger of the National Hostosian Congress and the New Puerto Rican Independence Movement . The two groups that formed the MINH were... University Pro-Independence Federation of Puerto Rico University Pro-Independence Federation of Puerto Rico The University Pro-Independence Federation of Puerto Rico is an organization of students primarily studying at the University of Puerto Rico founded in October 1956, by Puerto Rican poet and nationalist Hugo Margenat... |
no representation | |
| Broad Front Broad Front (Uruguay) The Broad Front is a Uruguayan left-wing coalition of political parties. It is led by Jorge Brovetto. Frente Amplio has close ties with PIT-CNT trade union and the cooperative housing movement.-History:... |
in government Uruguayan general election, 2009 General elections for President and Parliament took place in Uruguay on 25 October and 29 November 2009. In parliamentary election results, the Broad Front emerged the winner, electing 16 senators and 50 deputies, while the National Party elected 9 senators and 30 deputies, the Colorado Party 5... |
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| United Socialist Party of Venezuela United Socialist Party of Venezuela The United Socialist Party of Venezuela is the name of a democratic socialist political party in Venezuela which resulted from the fusion of some of the political and social forces that support the Bolivarian Revolution led by incumbent President Hugo Chávez... |
in government Venezuelan presidential election, 2006 The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela held presidential elections on 3 December 2006, to choose a president for the six-year term to begin on 10 January 2007... |
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External links
- Workers' Party - PT
- DECLARACIÓN FINAL DEL X ENCUENTRO DEL FORO DE SAO PAULO
- Luis Inacio Lula da Silva speech at the opening of Foro de São Paulo in Havana (Fundação Perseu Abrano website)
- Declaração da reunião do Grupo de Trabalho do FSP(Declaration of the Foro de São Paulo Meeting),Workers' Party-PT website
- PT message to the Equatorian parties of the Foro de São Paulo, Workers' Party-PT website
- XI Encuentro Foro de Sao Paulo realizado en la Antigua
- São Paulo Forum - the convergence point of the Latin-American and Caribbean left, Communist Party of BrazilCommunist Party of BrazilThe Communist Party of Brazil is a political party in Brazil. It has national reach and deep penetration in the trade union and students movements. PCdoB dispute with the Brazilian Communist Party the title of "oldest political party in Brazil"...
, November 20, 2002 - Echoes of the São Paulo Forum Part 2, Communist Party of BrazilCommunist Party of BrazilThe Communist Party of Brazil is a political party in Brazil. It has national reach and deep penetration in the trade union and students movements. PCdoB dispute with the Brazilian Communist Party the title of "oldest political party in Brazil"...
, December 19, 2002 - Echoes of the São Paulo Forum Part 3, Communist Party of BrazilCommunist Party of BrazilThe Communist Party of Brazil is a political party in Brazil. It has national reach and deep penetration in the trade union and students movements. PCdoB dispute with the Brazilian Communist Party the title of "oldest political party in Brazil"...
, December 26, 2002 - Participantes en 10° Encuentro del Foro de Sao Paulo piden liberación de cubanos presos en Miami, GranmaGranma (newspaper)Granma is the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party.Its name comes from the yacht Granma that carried Fidel Castro and 81 other rebels to Cuba's shores in 1956 launching the Cuban Revolution.-Editions:...
, 7 December 2001.