"Reimagine Latin America" - 40 CSOs met in Chile to learn about the constituent process and share lessons for the region

The Chilean constitutional process advances at a firm and determined pace. The first Constitutional Convention derived from a social uprising has generated great expectations in the Latin American region.

In this context, on 6, 7 and 8 April in partnership with Fundación Ciudadanía Inteligente (FCI) and Fundación Avina, and with the collaboration of Public Services International (PSI), the Friedrich-Ebert Foundation (FES) and Fundación Colunga, we met with more than 40 Latin American organisations in the “ReimaginaLA” event; the goal was to strengthen local discussion, share the lessons learned from the Constitutional Convention with other countries in the region, articulate networks and advance in the creation of common narratives on issues related to human rights and democracy in times of transition.

The event, which took place in Santiago de Chile, was attended by Paulina Castaño, director of Tax Justice at Fundar México, Paula Litvatchky, Executive Director of the Centre for Legal and Social Studies of Argentina (CELS), Julieta Izcurdia, Director of Tax Justice of the Civil Association for Equality and Justice (ACIJ), Jocelio Drummond, Regional Director of Public Services International (PSI), Nayareth Quevedo, Sub-Regional Secretary for the Southern Cone Countries of Services International of Publics (PSI), María Emilia Mamberti, program officer of the Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR) and Soledad García, Special Rapporteur for Economic, Social, Cultural and Environmental Rights of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, who highlighted the favorable environment to "realize the opportunity that Chile has in this process of establishing new agreements, new social pacts that hopefully put human rights and especially social rights, at the center for the Chilean people.”

Among the many activities during the event, the CSOs representatives visited the Constitutional Convention, where they were greeted by the Vice President of the body, Gaspar Domínguez, and constituents belonging to various political sectors, to discuss the state of the constitutional discussion and its priority issues.

“We come to talk about democracy, public services, participation, human rights, and the idea now is to be able to create ties and take all these lessons with us to create spaces of collective design. This helps us to reimagine that in Latin America it is possible to resolve social conflicts through inclusive citizen participation,” said Magdalena Sepúlveda, our Executve Director.

Our representative for Latin America, Vicente Silva, added:

“In a global context marked by historical levels of inequality, an acute climate crisis and the crises caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Chilean constitutional process can be a pioneer in the construction of narratives that allow reimagining new development alternatives for Latin America. As we have learned from these crises, what happens in one country is not isolated from the global context, so this process of political transformation in Chile could catalyze changes in other countries.”