24141: (pub) Chamberlain: Latin America's poor could rise up (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By GEORGE GEDDA

   WASHINGTON, Jan 25 (AP) -- Former President Carter said Tuesday that
Latin America's impoverished millions could turn to "radical and
destructive" behavior unless governments do a better job of meeting their
needs.
   In a speech at the Organization of American States, Carter said 225
million people in Latin America and the Caribbean live below the poverty
line. He said Latin America has the world's most unequal wealth
distribution.
   "The income gap has continued to increase in the past fifteen years,"
Carter said.
   "When people live in grinding poverty, see no hope for improvement for
their children, and are not receiving the rights and benefits of
citizenship, they will eventually make their grievances known, and it may
be in radical and destructive ways," he said.
   He said governments and the privileged in each country must demonstrate
the will to provide society's benefits to all citizens.
   As president from 1977 to 1981, Carter put human rights at the top of
his policy agenda for Latin America. He said great progress in protection
of human rights and the expansion of democracy has occurred in the region
since then:
   --Vibrant democracies exist in the English-speaking Caribbean.
   --"A democratic Chile is removing military prerogatives from the
Pinochet-era constitution, and the military has acknowledged its
institutional responsibility for the torture and disappearances of the
1970s."
   --Democracy has survived in Central America after an extended period of
civil war.
   Carter made only a passing reference to Cuba, noting the undemocratic
nature of its government.
   Venezuelans, he said, "have avoided civil violence while enduring a deep
political rift in the last three years." The Venezuelan referendum of last
August was among 54 foreign elections monitored by the Carter Center, a
private organization founded by the former president after he left office.
   He also credited Mexico with developing an electoral institution "that
has become the envy of the world."