Guanajuato, Gto., April 27, 2018.- Hosted by the Department of Political Studies and Government of the Division of Law, Politics and Government (DDPG) of Campus Guanajuato of the University of Guanajuato (UG), the conference "The democracy in Latin America. Opportunities and Challenges" was presented by Dr. Alessandra Pinna, representative of the organization Freedom House.

During the welcome, Dr. Carlos Román Cordourier Real, Director of the Department of Political Studies and Government, observed that historically the democracy has transformed and in this topic Freedom House's work is crucial, so he highlighted the perseverance and talent of this organization, that has generated relevant and thorough information for decades and has permeated all democracies.

Dr. Eduardo Pérez Alonso, Director of the DDPG, assured that the analysis of the current situation, comes because we have failed, we have created a human rights system that is in the codes, in the protocols, in the statistics, but not in the material life of the citizens.

There are guarantees, mechanisms and ways to exercise them, he said, but there are not used correctly, which is a threat for the state itself, which, from his point of view, is to reconstruct that institution with new channels, mechanisms, practical participations, because this failure has caused the decay of the speech.

Concepts such as law, politics, democracy, equality, freedom can seem empty, he lamented, but being a young state, this warning light where Mexico is, we must be aware, especially who is in the institutions, to concrete a commitment to participate.

But for DDPG its presence is important, he said, because the democracy and the freedom are the maximum values of a society. The moderator for this encounter was Dr. Fernando Barrientos del Monte.

Dr. Alessandra Pinna mentioned to be satisfied for being able to discuss together the situation of the democracy in Latin America through the studies of the "Freedom House" Organization, an independent organization founded in 1941 by Eleanor Roosevelt and Wendell Willkie in favor of the participation of United States in the war against Nazism.

Now, it has the objective to promote and defend freedom, democracy and human rights through analysis, programs and political influence, she informed; and among the annual studies they have these topics: "freedom in the word: political and civil freedom"; "freedom of the press": speech and information freedom; "Freedom of the net": freedom in the internet; and "nations in transit": democratization processes in Eastern Europe and Eurasia; as well as coverage about specific topics related with democracy.

A result of that, the independent organization has concluded specific analysis for Latin America, where there is a democracy in descent, as Honduras, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Mexico, whose common problems are the corruption of government officers, the lack of transparency, the rampant impunity, a weak State of Law, violence from criminal groups, violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms from state and non-state subjects, who make weak institutions.

Photo gallery