What to do about 'Katakana'? Nations troubleshoot at conference

The Miami Herald Posted on Fri, Jun. 06, 2003 BY MARIKA LYNCH mlynch@herald.com

The Republic of Katakana is in trouble: The economy is in the dumps, residents are becoming radical and the government has begun to crack down on its own people.

Meanwhile, the nation's neighbors fear Katakana's downward spiral could affect their stability.

The scenario has played out around the world. But Thursday, leaders from 14 Latin American, Caribbean and African nations took on the problems of the imaginary republic in an exercise on democracy building. They posed as the country's neighbors, and explored how international organizations could intervene to avoid a regional crisis.

The exercise was part of a two-day conference at the Hyatt Regency in Coral Gables held by the Community of Democracies, a 3-year-old global forum of nations committed to strengthening democracy. Participants also shared ideas on fighting corruption, holding elections and strengthening political parties.

''The concept is to take a region, the Western Hemisphere and Africa, and bring them together to share best practices in the furtherance of democracy,'' said Paula Dobriansky, U.S. undersecretary of state for global affairs and chairwoman of the event. ``When countries are going forward and trying to assist another in their region, they can only benefit from knowing what works.''

IN EL SALVADOR

President Francisco Flores of El Salvador addressed the conference and told of his country's path from civil war to becoming one of the few countries in Latin America to establish a positive economic growth trend.

''After so many years of violence, El Salvador became synonymous with strife,'' he said. ``The El Salvador of 2003 is a radically different country.''

The country's turnaround, he said, came about because of a strong constitution that respected the political beliefs of all parties, the privatization of state enterprises, and changes to the budget to include more social programs.

''El Salvador found the path to defeat poverty and that path is democracy,'' Flores said.

The leaders also contemplated the use of the Inter-American Democratic Charter, the backbone of the Organization of American States.

The charter states how countries can intervene when a neighboring nation has a constitutional crisis and sets out a list of steps, from sending a delegation to evaluate the situation to ultimately suspending the nation from the OAS.

EXECUTIVE POWER PLAY

Created in 2001, the document can help nations move forward when a president oversteps his power, said Humberto de la Calle, former vice president of Colombia and permanent representative to the OAS.

''The problem of yesteryear was the coup d'état, that was 10 or 15 years ago. Now the same executive power is the one that ruptures the constitution,'' de la Calle, a speaker at the conference, said in an interview.

The charter has been used twice: in Venezuela, where the OAS brokered a compromise between opposition leaders and President Hugo Chávez to hold a referendum on his rule; and in Haiti, where OAS mediators haven't been able to bring the government and critics to an agreement on new legislative elections.

The U.S.-sponsored conference includes Jamaica, Brazil, Chile, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Peru, the Dominican Republic, Cape Verde, Mali, Botswana, Senegal, Kenya, Ghana and Mozambique.