Delegates of several Latin-American Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) gathered in Bogotá , Colombia , between December 12 and December 14, 2008, to explore ways to defend democracy and freedom, which has been severely restricted and threatened in the continent. The delegates decided to establish a confederation of NGOs – christened UnoAmerica — to pursue their common goals. UnoAmerica will primarily function as an instrument for Latin American democratic sectors to exchange information, coordinate action, and support each other. The Final Declaration signed by the delegates is the following:

The failure of governments to eradicate poverty in Latin America , in spite of it being the richest continent on Earth, allowed the growth and development of the Sao Paulo Forum (FSP), an organization that brought together all the leftist movements and political parties in the region, including the Colombian narco-terrorist guerrilla group FARC (Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces).

The members of the Sao Paulo Forum take advantage of people's needs in order to manipulate the poor, promising “social justice” and better economic conditions. However, once in power, they don't solve any of the crucial problems in our countries, but instead introduce Marxist ideological models that divide our societies into factions based on class and race, promoting hate, violence and anarchy.

At present, there are fourteen Latin American governments connected to the Sao Paulo Forum. Although most of them reached power through democratic elections, some are destroying democracy from within, eliminating separation of power, checks and balances and fundamental rights. Such is the case with Hugo Chavez ( Venezuela ), Evo Morales ( Bolivia ), Rafael Correa ( Ecuador ), Cristina Kirchner ( Argentina ) and Daniel Ortega ( Nicaragua ).

To achieve their goals, the members of the Sao Paulo Forum do not resort to firing squads to eliminate their enemies, as was done in Cuba by Fidel Castro, the most prominent founding member of the FSP. They now use more modern and sophisticated methods. One basic process is through constitutional reforms that allow them to control all three branches of power, and to remain permanently in the Presidency. Elections are rigged and voting secrecy is, in practice, eliminated. Although these attacks on democracy are executed quite openly, other “moderate” members of the FSP -- Brazil 's Lula da Silva (co-founder of the FSP along with Fidel Castro), Uruguay 's Tabaré Vázquez and Chile 's Michelle Bachelet -- don't complain or criticize their radical counterparts.

The FSP has a transnational project that disregards national borders or sovereignty. To achieve their goals, FSP members intervene in the internal affairs of other countries, funding candidates of their liking, supplying military equipment, and even making decisions on internal conflicts using related organizations such as the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR). Democratic political and social forces, on the other hand, have so-far limited their action to their own national territory.

These two very different methods of operation have so far placed Latin American democrats at a serious disadvantage, hampering their ability to counterbalance the advance of the FSP. UnoAmerica is an attempt to correct that imbalance.

In addition to the goal of counteracting FSP, UnoAmerica will design economic programs to promote industrialization and development in our continent, in order to help solve the oldest and most serious problems in our region – poverty, illiteracy and even hunger -- as an antidote to totalitarianism.

Poverty and illiteracy are the main barriers to the consolidation of democracy and freedom in Latin America . There are no other real obstacles to development in a region full of resources.

We invite all democratic forces in Latin America to join this initiative. We invite them to work together to promote a better future in which freedom, social justice, solidarity and integration, and the rule of law will prevail.