Report from the Federation of Green Parties of the Americas meeting
2000 / 09 / 29
Report from the Federation of Green Parties of the Americas meeting
Congreso de la Federacion de Partidos Verdes de las Americas
September 8th-11th 2000
Lima, Peru
Hosted by the Green Party of Peru (Partido Ecologista Alternative Verde)
Written by Anne de la Bouillerie Goeke – Co Chair Steering Committee – ASGP USA
Congreso de la Federacion de Partidos Verdes de las Americas
September 8th-11th 2000
Lima, Peru
Hosted by the Green Party of Peru (Partido Ecologista Alternative Verde)
Written by Anne de la Bouillerie Goeke – Co Chair Steering Committee – ASGP USA
Green Parties members of the Federation present were:
Alternativa Verde de Peru
Partido Verde de Brasil
Oxigeno Verde de Colombia
Association of State Green Parties (ASGP)
G/GPUSA
Partido Verde Ecologista de Mexico
Partido Movimento de Accion Ecologica de Chile
Not present were:
Green Party of Canada
Partido del Sol de Uruguay
Movimiento Integridad Nacional Incolago de Venezuela
Others present were:
European Federation of Green Parties
Green Party of Taiwan
Heinrich Boll Foundation (Region of Latin America)
UBV – Cooperacion Tecnica Sueca (Sweden) – program in Chile
Green Party of California - USA
The Green Party of Peru (Alternativa Verde) hosted the event at the Prince Hotel in Lima, Peru. On Friday, September 8th we had a press conference with each representative presenting a brief history and update about their party. We managed to get good coverage on both television and in national papers. Friday night was the opening reception in which the public attended and heard previews from the presenters for the next two days. Afterwards, there was a marvelous reception that included delicious indigenous foods and drinks while everyone mingled. Both Saturday and Sunday mornings were allotted for presentations, given by many of the members, on issues to do with ecology and sustainability (list below). This portion of the program was open to the public and invitations had been given to the local NGO’s and environmental groups. The afternoons were left for the Federation members to work on internal business and were closed to the outside. Monday was solely spent working on Global Green business and elections for the Executive Committee for the Federation.
We accomplished our goal to revise and modify the statutes of the Federation. At present, it is only available in Spanish and English but will soon be translated into Portuguese. The statutes will be displayed on the Federation’s website.
We had an excellent session when each of the Green Party’s discussed their historical background, their struggles, what their accomplishments have been and what their future goals are for the next few years. We agreed that the Federation needed to strengthen communications between one another, improve the website to include a calendar with events and election dates, and that more effort should be put on helping to develop more green parties in the Americas. The Colombian Green Party offered to host the next Federation meeting.
The Federation of Green Parties of the Americas election results was:
Secretary General Jorge Gonzales Torres – PVEM - Mexico
Secretary General assistant and Spanish Spokesperon Natalia Escudero Barrera – PVEM - Mexico
Portuguese Spokesperson Marco Antonio Mroz – PV – Brazil
English Spokesperson Anne de la Bouillerie Goeke – ASGP – USA
Treasurer Flor Maria Hurtado Valdez – AV – Peru
Ombusperson Antonio Melo Viana – PV - Brazil
Communications Eduardo Chavez – OV – Colombia
It was agreed that all the Green Parties present at the meeting would be going to the Global Greens Conference in Canberra, Australia – April 2001.
The Federation of Green Parties of the Americas recommends that the procedure for the Global Greens 2001 conference allow 3 delegates per Green Party but would only be given 1 vote.
The three elected representatives from the Americas for the International Reference Group are:
Antonio Melo Viana - Brazil
Anne de la Bouillerie Goeke - USA
Natalia Escudero – Mexico
All three elected speak English and will take responsibility to forward the necessary information to the rest of the greens in their respected languages. We discussed hiring a translator to make the whole process move forward quickly and smoothly. Each Green Party present at the Lima meeting had agreed to work on the draft Charter and Political Action document. Both Anne de la Bouillerie Goeke and Marian Coyne, EFGP spokesperson, gave a presentation about the purpose and needs of the Global Green Conference and managed to clear any misconceptions.
With some discussions, the Americas would like to see these themes or topics presented at the conference.
1/ Political Justice
2/ Economic Justice
3/ Social Justice
4/ Energy
5/ Climate Change
6/ Biodiversity
7/ Sustainable Planning
8/ Greens in Power
9/ Green Values
It was expressed that we would have numerous speakers who could address some of these topics, specifically in areas that have to do with the tropics, indigenous issues, drug wars, deforestation, global warming and more. The emphasis would be in a political context. Proposals from potential speakers are being organized. We discussed logistics and finances. The proposal to have Los Angeles as the meeting point for a charter plane to Australia was accepted. Each Green Party will check about costs and routes.
All in all, the meeting went very well. The Association of State Green Parties is very thankful and appreciative to the Alternativa Verde (Green Party of Peru) for all their efforts and organizing they did to make our second meeting of the Federation a success. We thank in particular both Alex Gonzales Castillo and Flor Maria Hurtado Valdez for all their hard work.
Federation of Green Parties of the Americas 2nd Meeting in Lima, Peru
Program Theme “Continental Reunion of Ecologists”
Welcoming
Alex Gonzales Castillo – President of Alternativa Verde de Peru
Sustainable Cities in Latin America
Manuel Baquedano – President of the NGO – Instituto de Ecologia Politica de Chile
Sustainable planning in a City in Latin America
Carlos Fonseca - Oxigeno Verde de Colombia
