International singer-songwriter and native Colombian Shakira addressed a packed Roone Arledge Auditorium in her native tongue on behalf of América Latina en Acción Solidaria, “a movement dedicated to the children in Latin America,” according to its Web site.
Shakira and Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Earth Institute, which hosted the program, were joined by an impressive list of speakers, including five Latin American presidents, some of whom spent much of the forum thanking each other. Several also mentioned Spanish pop star Alejandro Sanz who, Sachs joked, had, along with Shakira, “sold more albums than Wall Street has lost money.”
But the event, titled “The Children of Latin America: A Future Without Poverty,” focused mostly on how to overcome issues of malnutrition and unemployment and advocated for rights of impoverished children.
The Earth Institute hosted the event with ALAS, which means “wings” in Spanish.
After Shakira challenged the presidents in attendance to commit to making early childhood development a priority at an upcoming summit in El Salvador, Mexican president Felipe Calderón, a former student of Sachs’, noted the social programs his nation had instituted in the areas of medical insurance, nutrition, and environmental sustainability.
“The point is not just to give money to people, but how you give money and in exchange for what,” Calderón said.
Mexico tries especially to support women, Calderón said, because they’re more likely than men, in turn, to support their families. For that reason, Mexico has instituted government-subsidized neighborhood caretakers so that the rest of the neighbors, usually women, can afford to work.
Other presidents, like Antonio Saca, president of El Salvador, agreed that providing more assistance to mothers is one solution in a larger movement to revolutionize Latin America. “Most of the problems involve women who act as mothers and fathers at the same time,” Saca said.
“This is Latin America’s time, I believe,” Sachs, who moderated the discussion, said. He added that, given the area’s resources, food, and energy, “Latin America has what it takes for the decisive breakthrough in this generation.”
Argentinian President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner added that for this breakthrough some aid might be needed, drawing on the example of America’s $700 billion bailout to show that every country requires state intervention. “Many of the things we see in today’s contemporary world, even at the center of the world’s largest economy, show that lack of state intervention is a fiction,” she said.
Kirchner lamented the income gap in her region, particularly its effect on children who only go to school to get a real meal.
Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo said the same problem exists in his country. Lugo recounted a conversation he had with a Paraguayan school teacher who told him children weren’t going to school anymore. When he asked why she responded, “Because they don’t serve breakfast anymore.”
Also in attendance were Luis Alberto Moreno, president of the Inter-American Development Bank, Martín Erasto Torrijos Espino, president of Panama, and Alejandro Santo Domingo, president of ALAS.
Though Shakira had already spoken at the beginning, calling this “a historic moment in time for our Latin American children,” Sachs invited her to close the event as well.
“Only one person could have the last word,” Sachs said.
“Where I grew up, in the developing world, every child who was born poor will die poor,” Shakira said. So to break the cycle of poverty, “the children of Latin America are counting on you presidents to put at the top of your agenda early childhood development.”
lien.hoang@columbiaspectator.com