Washington - Six former presidents of Latin American countries launched Tuesday in Washington a plan to combat poverty and social inequality across their region over the next 20 years. The ex-leaders made the announcement of theSocial Agenda for Democracy, which includes 16 concrete proposals, at the National Press Club in Washington.
The Agenda is the result of a two-year effort from 20 former presidents and other experts in the region, coordinated by former Peruvian president Alejandro Toledo.
They said their plan represented a "new way" that avoids both "market fundamentalism" and "authoritarian populism" in the search for development that is "sustainable and fair in the long run."
The plan includes proposals to combine economic growth with "deliberate, concrete and measurable social policies" over the next 20 years, Toledo explained.
He was accompanied by former presidents Vicente Fox of Mexico, Carlos Mesa of Bolivia, Ricardo Maduro of Honduras, Nicolas Ardito Barleta of Panama and Vinicio Cerezo of Guatemala.
The document puts forward proposals to reform tax policy, ease the process to send home remittances, expand micro-finance initiatives, improve education, increase food security and improve access to health.
Former presidents also tackled the need to increase access to drinking water and sewage systems, reduce violence and strive for gender equality, as well as to grant indigenous communities more access to political representation.
"It is a proposal by Latin Americans for Latin America," Toledo stressed.
Toledo - one of the 16 children of a poor peasant family of indigenous descent who went to study in the United States on a scholarship - put himself forward as "walking evidence" of the importance of access to education to solve social inequality and poverty in the region.
"Economic growth is pointless if it is not accompanied by deliberate social policies. We need deliberate social policies for the poor if we want sustainable economic growth," he stressed.
