This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 RECIFE 000147 
 
SIPDIS 
 
BUENOS AIRES FOR SOA DELEGATION 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PHUM SOCI BR
SUBJECT: OAS MINISTERIAL CONCLUDES WITH DECLARATION OF RECIFE ON 
DECENTRALIZATION 
 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  The "Declaration of Recife," adopted on 
October 28 at a ministerial-level Organization of American 
States (OAS) meeting in Recife, Brazil, contained a number of 
references that advance USG views. This included 
"representative" democracy, democracy as essential to economic 
development and the importance of civil society. 
Counter-productive "Chavista" rhetoric was rejected.  Brazil 
noted its appreciation of USG sensitivity to its interests as 
host of the meeting, particularly in leading efforts that kept 
the Declaration focused and on message.  Text of Declaration 
follows in para 7.  End summary. 
 
¶2. (U) On October 28, the third ministerial meeting of the OAS 
Inter-American Network on Decentralization ("RIAD") concluded 
successfully in Recife, Brazil.  Adopted by consensus, the 
"Declaration of Recife" sets the tone for RIAD's work for the 
coming two years.  RIAD is aimed at strengthening 
decentralization to support citizen participation and levels of 
government below the national level to fight poverty, support 
job creation, and enhance transparent democratic governance. 
 
¶3. (SBU) With co-sponsorship from Canada, Mexico, Colombia, and 
Nicaragua, the U.S. inserted several applicable passages from 
the Inter-American Democratic Charter (IADC) that support U.S. 
concepts of representative democracy, democracy essential to 
economic development, civil society, and rule of law. 
Determined attempts by Costa Rica's Minister of National 
Planning, Uruguay's Director of Planning and Budget, and the 
Caribbean to redefine democracy in a different manner from the 
IADC were stopped by Brazil, Mexico, Ecuador, and the United 
States. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Several delegations also sought to insert language that 
included political judgments which could have polarized the 
conference and gone far outside the mandate of RIAD.  The U.S., 
Mexico, Ecuador, and Brazil also had to resist this, 
successfully arguing that such issues belong to the OAS 
Permanent Council. 
 
¶5. (SBU) The resulting "Declaration of Recife" is excellent from 
a USG standpoint and is to be reported to the Fourth Summit of 
the Americas.  For its part, the visibly relieved Brazil 
delegation quietly told the USDEL it was very appreciative of 
USG sensitivity to its interests as host of the meeting, 
particularly leading efforts that kept the declaration focused 
and on message --balanced so that it would support democracy and 
advance the work of RIAD-- and thus it could be adopted with 
consensus language all would support. 
 
¶6. (U) As part of the USDEL, the Inter-American Foundation 
presented information on opportunity zones for development 
through democratic local governance.  RIAD's Recife meeting also 
featured an exhibition that was popular with delegates on 
successful and replicable best practices, in part made possible 
by a grant by USAID.  Both were well-received, with Jamaica, 
Trinidad, and Suriname inserting language in the Declaration 
acknowledging the best practices "Expo" supported by USAID. 
 
¶7. (U) The text of the declaration is as follows.  Begin text: 
 
--------------------- 
DECLARATION OF RECIFE 
--------------------- 
 
(Adopted at the fifth plenary session, held on October 28, 2005.) 
 
        The participants in the Third Meeting of MINISTERS AND 
HIGH-LEVEL AUTHORITIES OF THE MEMBER STATES OF THE ORGANIZATION 
OF AMERICAN STATES responsible for policies on decentralization, 
strengthening of subnational governments, and citizen 
participation, assembled in Recife, Brazil, from October 26 to 
28, 2005, 
 
RECALLING: 
 
        That the peoples of the Americas have a right to 
democracy 
and their governments have an obligation to promote and defend 
it; and 
 
        That democracy is essential for the social, political, 
and 
economic development of the peoples of the Americas; 
 
BEARING IN MIND: 
 
        That the effective exercise of representative democracy 
is 
the basis for the rule of law and of the constitutional regimes 
of the member states of the Organization of American States; and 
 
        That representative democracy is strengthened and 
deepened 
by permanent, ethical, and responsible participation of the 
citizenry within a legal framework conforming to the respective 
constitutional order; 
 
RECOGNIZING: 
 
        That it is the right and responsibility of all citizens 
to 
participate in decisions relating to their own development; 
 
        That this is also a necessary condition for the full and 
effective exercise of democracy; and 
        That promoting and fostering diverse forms of 
participation strengthens democracy; 
 
        RECALLING that the High-Level Inter-American Network on 
Decentralization, Local Government, and Citizen Participation 
(RIAD) is the outcome of a series of discussions held in the 
context of the Summit meetings of Heads of State and Government 
of the member states of the Organization of American States to 
identify shared hemispheric challenges, priorities, and goals to 
be met in the coming decades by the countries of the region; 
 
        EMPHASIZING that the Plan of Action adopted by the Third 
Summit of the Americas (Quebec City, 2001) underscored the need 
to strengthen the autonomy and the managerial and administrative 
capacity of local governments, as a factor in strengthening 
democratic governance in the Hemisphere, allowing both greater 
efficiency in the provision of public services to the community 
of the region and increased civil society participation in local 
public administration; 
 
        CONSIDERING that the Declaration of La Paz (Bolivia, 
2001), the document that established the High-Level 
Inter-American Network on Decentralization, Local Government, 
and Citizen Participation (RIAD), emphasized the special 
contribution subnational governments could make to strengthening 
democracy, promoting economic development, and reducing poverty 
in the region; 
 
        RECOGNIZING that the Plan of Action of Mexico City, 
adopted by the member states of the Network at the Second 
Meeting of Ministers of the RIAD (Mexico City, 2003), is the 
first document to reflect the views shared by the member states, 
listing priority topics for analysis and defining strategic 
actions of the Network; 
 
        BEARING IN MIND that the Heads of State and of the 
Government will meet in the city of Mar del Plata, Argentina, on 
November 4 and 5, 2005, for the Fourth Summit of Americas, the 
theme of which is "Creating Jobs to Fight Poverty and Strengthen 
Democratic Governance"; and 
 
        RECOGNIZING that several countries of the region are 
affected by crises of diverse types, whose effects could have a 
negative impact at various levels of government on democratic 
governance and stability, 
 
DECLARE: 
 
        ¶1.      Their commitment to improving and strengthening 
the 
institutional framework of the decentralization process, so as 
to strengthen local and regional governments, as well as the 
channels for citizen participation in public administration, 
which constitute a plan of action for consolidating democratic 
governance, creating decent work opportunities, and promoting 
more inclusive development that can reduce social and regional 
inequalities in the Hemisphere. 
 
        ¶2.      Their commitment to the mission of the High-Level 
Inter-American Network on Decentralization, Local Government, 
and Citizen Participation (RIAD) to support central governments 
in the promotion and coordination of the decentralization 
processes that have intensified since the 1990s. 
 
        ¶3.      The need to enhance implementation of the 
Network's 
agenda by promoting political dialogue and the exchange of 
information and experience among national policymakers in the 
Network's member states, and between the Network and the 
meetings of ministers and high-level authorities of the OAS, and 
by disseminating analyses and studies on decentralization trends 
in the Hemisphere. 
 
        ¶4.      The importance of cooperation and collaboration 
between the central government and regional governments in the 
shared promotion of a more inclusive form of economic 
development that can strengthen democratic governance in the 
Hemisphere.  In this regard, the Declaration of Margarita on 
poverty, equity, and social inclusion (Venezuela, 2003) has 
already pointed out that the reduction of poverty, the creation 
of new economic opportunities, and efforts to achieve a more 
equitable distribution of income for the people of the Americas 
can be pursued, inter alia, through the joint efforts of the 
national, regional, and local governments of the region, in 
partnership with the private sector and other civil society 
actors. 
 
¶5.  Solidarity from the region to states whose democratic 
governance is at risk due to vulnerabilities of different types, 
whether structural or transitory, and which deserve resolute 
support, through reaffirmation of the effective exercise of 
representative democracy, at the level of central as well as 
regional and municipal governments. 
 
RECOMMEND AS PRIORITY ACTIVITIES: 
 
        In order to achieve its fundamental purpose and establish 
itself as an instrument of cooperation for the exchange of 
experience, such as the Expo-Fair initiative of RIAD III and the 
formulation of proposals and public policies on strengthening 
the decentralization of local and regional governments, as well 
as channels for civil society participation in public 
administration, the Network can act in three principal ways. 
 
¶1. Based on the Plan of Action of Mexico City, identify a common 
agenda and priority topics for the short and medium terms. 
 
¶2. Cooperate by reinforcing public-private partnerships, which 
can be a fundamental element in consolidating decentralization 
processes and coordinating public policies. 
 
¶3.  Support regional applied research centers, which is 
essential to understanding the distinctive characteristics of 
the decentralization process in each member state of the 
Network, as well as the general and regional trends of this 
process.  Also, strengthen training and skills development in 
order to create a synergy with other networks and research 
centers working on these issues in the region. 
 
¶4.  Secondly, the RIAD should include on its agenda an analysis 
of the effectiveness of the articulation processes and 
intergovernmental coordination mechanisms in the context of 
decentralization. 
 
¶5.  The third measure has to do with the relationship between 
the agenda of the RIAD and civil society organizations involved 
in the decentralization process under way in the Hemisphere. In 
this regard, it is essential that the RIAD Executive Committee 
and the Network's national policymakers adopt initiatives to 
establish, in their respective spheres of action, a dialogue 
with important civil society leaders that can lead to a viable 
shared agenda on democratic governance, territorial development, 
and fighting poverty, social exclusion, and inequality. 
 
¶6.  It is therefore essential to strengthen the subregional vice 
chairs by drawing up a specific work agenda for each of these 
subregions, taking into account the diversity of the member 
states of the Network with respect to their national political 
institutional structures (for example, the differences between 
unitary and federal governments) and the different processes of 
decentralization under way in the region, as well as the 
regional integration processes in the Hemisphere. 
 
        ¶7.      That the subregional vice chairs elected at RIAD 
III 
will also serve as vice chairs of the High-Level Inter-American 
Network on Decentralization, Local Government, and Citizen 
Participation.  Likewise, it is decided that the outgoing chair 
will join the RIAD Executive Committee. 
 
        ¶8.      Lastly, the participants in the Meeting wish to 
express their most sincere thanks to the Government of the 
Federative Republic of Brazil, the host country, for its warm 
hospitality and for the excellent organization which assured the 
success of this meeting. End text. 
 
 
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