Weekly Report - 18 November 2003

The 13th Ibero-American Summit, held last week in the Bolivian city of Santa Cruz, was meant to be mainly about social exclusion. It issued a lofty declaration on the subject. Its host, Bolivian President Carlos Mesa, made a stronger point by taking a break from the summit and attending the Alternative Social Encounter being held in the same city, which brought together representatives of the indigenous movements of a dozen countries in the hemisphere - the epitome of the excluded the summitteers were discussing.