Questions And Answers | Table 1 - Parliamentary Session, CUMIPAZ 2017

Let's immediately ask the first question to the representative Tucapel Jiménez, the question is:

What is being done to prohibit the planting of pine and eucalyptus from southern Chile, so that they do not consume all the water and render the Ñuke Mapu land sterile?

 

Rep. Tucapel Jiménez (Chile)

The truth is that, what is being done to avoid planting, right? Of pine and eucalyptus and that?

I think the big problem we have in Chile today is that there is a conflict, that at the beginning I said here that I was going to develop a little more, but that later my speech had changed, which was to talk about what happens today in the south of Chile, and that it was in a certain way a stigmatization with our Mapuche people.

I talked about the anti-terrorist law, but not because I did want to tell you all, but because each country has its own legislation and I did not want to confuse you all in that; and there is a tremendous conflict there (political, I think), that is true. To give you one example, when there is a protest in Santiago and a bus is burned nobody speaks of terrorism; but it is enough for this to happen in the Araucanía, and it is terrorism. Why? Because it is immediately associated with the Mapuche people, without even knowing if it was the Mapuche people.

And within all this conflict, those who have passed ... (in Chile a term is used that is very ... I do not want to use it here) but they have gone very unnoticed and nobody talks about them, they are the forestry companies, which have taken over the south and they are big companies that exploit the land that the indigenous peoples rightly claim; and they do not speak about the subject, they do not speak and they only use and abuse the land that belongs to them. Therefore, I believe that we have a debt there as a State.

Today, there is nothing concrete —to be frank— about something that could prevent that, that could prevent them from continuing to plant or continue to use the land in the Araucania, mainly in the south. And I believe that this is the great underlying problem that exists, and that is why I say that it is a political problem, that we have to resolve what happens with forestry companies. But today there is nothing, absolutely nothing concrete, and that is the truth; the answer for you.

 

MODERATOR

Thank you very much, representative.

There is a general question, I do not know ... any of the panelists would like to respond, the question says:

Could it be possible that the State's supervisory bodies are by law selected by the opposition parties, to see if we stop corruption a bit more?

If any of the panelists would like to answer this question, the person who asked it does not say to whom it is directed. The representative of Peru?

 

Rep. Jorge del Castillo (Peru)

In Peru, the Oversight Committee of the Congress is chaired by the opposition; the comptroller of the Republic is appointed by Congress. So I believe that even that does not necessarily guarantee the balanced management of the process of regulation or control. There must be, I would say ... deep down, all this is a cultural theme of our countries, right? In its base; but I think they have to go to those positions, people (I'm referring to judges, prosecutors, comptrollers, auditors), people who have a vocation, attitude, and decision to act in that sense, and decency to do it. If they know something about Law, the better, but substantially I think they have to have the necessary attitude and the necessary courage to do that, because also, not everyone sometimes has the ability to confront extremely complicated situations that can lead to crime, right? As has happened in several countries.

 

MODERATOR

Thank you very much, representative. Again, there is a question for you:

In terms of democracy it is said of the Republic of Peru, what or which space do the native peoples of that country have in State politics?

 

Rep. Jorge del Castillo (Peru)

They have, the parliamentary lists, regions for municipalities, regional councilors, and congressmen. There is participation, a percentage, to integrate the lists. Yes there are.

Now, what happens is that over time there is confusion, there are groups that no longer want to be considered as such, that happens. And why? Because children are incorporated into standardized life so to speak, but there are.

And I think that environmental awareness and respect for minorities is growing, I can’t deny it in any way.

 

MODERATOR

Thank you very much. For representative Jorge del Castillo there is a question:

Does the new world order suit us or not?

 

Rep. Jorge del Castillo (Peru)

But what is the new world order? Globalization is the new world order. Well, what happens is that there are realities in the world, there are concrete facts that one can try to correct some things, that's why I spoke of the regulatory State, because the regulatory state is the one that can act in a different way by letting go and bypassing traditional legalism.

Then, to think that the world order imposes things on you and you must inadvertently accept them as such does not have to be that way either; but there are issues, especially in the economy, that have become commonplace and that were not like that before.

For example, the macroeconomic foundations of a country, fiscal stability, can anyone discuss them? That is not a right or left issue, it is a reality issue. But if you do not apply it, you can simply fall into a hyperinflation or a situation of serious economic instability. So, given that the economy is integrated today, well if you aspire to be... you know, the budget of the republic is not enough, you need other instruments that have appeared in the world: public-private partnerships, concessions, etc. If you are not on a path of economic stability, those instruments simply will not come to you and you have to live only with your budget.

Then it is a topic that I say: They are realities that are in the world, we can’t make them disappear, it is not a matter of fighting them like that, of killing, but rather of the State using its regulatory mechanisms and obtaining the greatest advantage.

Allow me a final sentence. There in the tower of founders of my party they said: "Capitalism has two faces: good aspects and bad aspects", like the new technology that allows you a lot of communication on one hand, and on the other hand it can suddenly take you away from job; then all these are double-sided phenomena that must be understood and that the State there has to play a determining role.

 

MODERATOR

Thank you very much. Another question. I congratulate the congressmen for their participation.

Do you think that corruption levels will be minimized if we include issues of transparency and crime prevention in the curricula to educate children in Latin America, so that when they are adults they are fair and able to live honestly and with social justice?

 

Senator Víctor Zamora (Bolivia)

Definitely yes. The issue of education is one of the topics that is in the conclusions and that has been identified as one of the elements of training that will allow us to improve the reality of public administration.

It is very different when a person formed in values ​​agrees to be the leader, that when he or she is not formed in that cross-section. And that is why it is not only education about issues of corruption; it is called education in values, which is part of the cross-axis that should be internalized within our educational schemes. This is one of the elements we must work on: To standardize those principles of education in values ​​that should be incorporated into our educational systems. Definitely, I repeat, yes.

 

MODERATOR

Thanks, senator. Another question:

What is it that causes corruption, how can we counteract corruption if it comes from the top or they take your life?

 

Senator Víctor Zamora (Bolivia)

Well, corruption comes from all those conceptual elements that we have been reading. In reality, the excess of ambition and the loss of values ​​is what begin to degenerate into an ambitious and corrupt behavior, and that is why, as long as the values ​​are stronger within the formation of the individual, surely we will have less possibilities of having or emitting corrupt behaviors.

And I believe that the great origin of corruption is incorporated in the intrinsic value of the transparency that the individual has. If greed is one of the elements that are incorporated within his or her action, surely that person will have a corruptible tendency.

 

MODERATOR

Many thanks. Another question:

The financiers who pay for the campaigns of presidential candidates enjoy benefits later, how can this serious abnormality be avoid?

 

Rep. Gerardo Amarilla (Uruguay)

In my country there is precisely a law in discussion, and it is on the subject of the financing of political parties. I think that we have to establish very clearly how the political parties finance themselves and how they finance their campaigns, which I think is also an issue that we have to regulate. There are countries that have done it. It is not a... this does not mean that this will definitively resolve the issues.

Brazil has a very strict legislation, which does not allow donations to parties or allow mass media advertising, and yet corruption has been alarming; but I think we have to regulate the financing of political campaigns and regulate even how that money is spent in electoral campaigns.

 

MODERATOR

Thank you very much. For you again:

The rule of law, as a guarantor of democracy against the abuses of the rulers, in this sense, what do you think of the independence challenge of the ... I can’t read this very well but it refers to Catalonia, the Spanish State?

(That's another panel)

Rep. Gerardo Amarilla (Uruguay)

It's a more complicated panel, but there I think the issue of respecting the law is fundamental. I believe that such situations confront, say, what is the constitution of a State and the regulations of a State. If the Catalans want to become independent they have to plant the issue within the Spanish Parliament and within the Spanish State, as it should be; if not, the richest areas of our countries (already happening in Brazil) would be interested in becoming independent from the poorest areas and not exercising intranational solidarity.

 

MODERATOR

OK thank you very much. Another question:

How can we reduce the attacks against indigenous peoples for defending the natural resource and Mother Earth? How can public policies be created in these cases?

 

Rep. Tucapel Jiménez (Chile)

My colleague from Peru was asked a question: what was the representativeness of the original peoples in Peru?

I believe that these instances should be used to exchange experiences. I think that... I imagine that in the conclusions of the plenary we will do it, because each country has its own experience and I believe that they serve us mutually to learn.

In our country the original peoples have a quota law in the political parties, they can be candidates. But the truth is that today the Government of President Bachelet is making an indigenous consultation to comply with Convention 169, and I believe that the main proposal that will come out of that consultation is that the indigenous peoples have their own representatives in Parliament, that they can choose their representative. Different nowadays that political parties are in the quota law.

And I think that's going to be a substantial change; first because they will have their own representative, and well, public policies are being done today, just this consultation, is to give the possibility that they can also make us see what are the public policies we must implement to ensure their rights.

 

MODERATOR

Well, unfortunately we're going to be left with some questions. We invite you at this moment to serve yourself a coffee to later go to the plenary, to the conclusions.

Thank you to everyone for their participation. Many thanks to the panelists; and thank you very much, good afternoon.