30/05/2010
http://assets.fundacionfaes.org/prensa/2010/05/CEIF_29052010.jpg! Hirschfeld hopes the next president of the country "does not waste the good legacy left by ?lvaro Uribe" The scarce results of the latest Summit European Union ?" Latin America were also assessed Reyes: The study of the bicentenaries must be used to disassemble the arguments of those who use history to distort it" /29.05.10/ The Centre for Latin American Studies of the Foundation for Social Studies and Analysis (FAES) has met again in Madrid to commemorate the bicentenaries of the Latin American Republics. During the meeting, the attendants discussed the presidential elections that Colombia will celebrate on Sunday and tried to elucidate the new scenario opening up in the country and its possible effects on the rest of the region. In this sense, Guillermo Hirschfeld, in charge of Programmes for Latin America of FAES, stated his hope that the next president of the country "does not waste the good legacy left by ?lvaro Uribe". In order to do this he declared that the president will "have to take a firm stance in the fight against terrorism and drug-trafficking, and keep the political courage based on democratic principles, which have been the key features of Colombia"s unprecedented transformation. The meeting was also addressed by Xavier Reyes Matheus, author of the book M?s liberal que libertador. Francisco de Miranda y el nacimiento de la democracia en Europa y Am?rica, published by Gota a Gota and launched last Thursday May 27. Reyes referred to the commemoration of the bicentenaries and remarked that "Latin America can also be understood as a failure if this conclusion evolves from the existence of a project which would be none other than the modern liberal republic: a nation of free and equal citizens. The writer pointed out, in this sense, that the study of the bicentenaries must be used to disassemble the arguments of those who use history to distort it with a perverse political end". Hirschfeld, in turn, defined the commemoration of the bicentenaries as a "historical opportunity to learn form the progressions and regressions of our democracies and understand the causes of prosperity and the reasons that have prevented our growth". The scarce results of the latest Summit European Union ?" Latin America celebrated in Madrid last week were also assessed at the meeting. Likewise, a balance of the work groups who study the region at the FAES Centre for Latin American Studies was accomplished. Coordinated by Guillermo Hirschfeld and incorporated last February as an observatory for the political, economic and social analysis of Latin America, the FAES Centre for Latin American Studies integrates over 50 experts amongst who are professors, writers, entrepreneurs, analysts and young leaders from over ten countries. At their regular meetings in Madrid they seek to generate ideas to improve the situation of Latin America and tighten the bonds with universities, think tanks and parties from both sides of the Atlantic.