2020_11_05_DCHO_american_summit

"The pandemic has highlighted the problems already existing in Latin America, especially because it has paralyzed the reforms initiated in 2019", and has led to "political and social exhaustion", and a growing distrust in institutions". Thus he stated Trinidad JiménezDirector of Telefónica's Global Public Affairs Strategy, during the Latin America Summita lecture series organized by the School of Law of the University of Navarra.

All forecasts point to a slow recovery, and "global pandemic calls for an ambitious recovery plan"Latin America cannot face this challenge alone, and for which it will need to international support", he said. However, "the transformations that work are those that start from within; it is the leaders themselves who must initiate the internal transformation". 

Trinidad Jiménez spoke of the digitalization in times of pandemic and stressed that a scenario devoid of digital solutions would have been absolutely unsustainable in times of Covid: "We have proven that there are solutions in the digital world for the great challenges," said the expert, who stressed that "digital-related jobs will increase, and they will be of higher quality, with higher salaries and will generate more added value". 

In his opinion, although digitalization was already on the agenda, the pandemic has served as a lever for acceleration. In that sense, "Latin America has a network infrastructure and highly digitized generations that are fundamental ingredients to improve people's lives. Latin America must take on the current challenges and has the tools to move forward".

Recovery based on democracy and trust in institutions

The Latin America Summit, a series that addressed current affairs in Latin America, COVID's impact and future possibilities, also included the participation of the University Secretary of the Organization of American States (OAS), Luis Almagro, who delivered the closing address lecture .

Almagro stressed his confidence in the consolidation of strong, efficient institutions with the capacity of management to "solve the main problems of the people in times of pandemic". "Government transparency has a special relevance in the fight against corruption, so present in our countries," he said. 

The current COVID pandemic, he added, has led to the postponement of electoral processes, and the post-COVID "will be very hard: an exponential growth of poverty, unemployment and a fall in GDP is foreseen".

Likewise, he assured that "if democracy is affected by authoritarian temptations in the post-pandemic period, the difficulties will be much greater". For democracy to be a real right of the people and for freedoms to be protected, Almagro stressed the importance of "building trust in institutions: avoiding the knowledge dissemination of false news and appealing to the freedom and responsibility of citizens".

The Latin America Summit, attended by the students of Degree from International Office, was also attended by speakers such as José Antonio García Belaunde, representative in Europe of CAF, Banco de development of Latin America; and José Gasset, director of International Institutional Relations of Iberdrola and president of the Brazil-Spain Chamber of Commerce.