MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, May 19 (UPI) -- The need for democratic reform in Latin America is felt nowhere as acutely as in Cuba and Venezuela, European and South American lawmakers meeting in Uruguay's capital concluded after two days of talks.
The parliamentarians' findings did not surprise participants or the media covering the event but pointed to what even left-wing analysts and commentators see as an embarrassing re-interpretation of socialist ideals in the two countries.
Cuba's recent move towards a slow freeing up of communist hold on all economic activity in the Central American country was welcomed by the delegates, who pointed to a continuing lack of basic freedoms in the country.
In Venezuela, suppression of liberties was compounded by the government of President Hugo Chavez failing to make a distinction between government and state institutions. A frequent complaint against Chavez is that his aides regularly negate public expectations of the government keeping its hands off state institutions.
Venezuelan ruling party policies were seen by lawmakers to be abusing state institutions for partisan gain.
The lawmakers, drawn from the European Union and Latin American countries, approved two resolutions that pointed to the lack of freedoms in Cuba and doubts over the arrangements in place for next year's presidential election in Venezuela. Chavez is seeking re-election for a third term ending in 2019.
The meeting of the fifth ordinary plenary session of the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly, Eurolat, was attended by lawmakers from Chile, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela, and by European parliamentarians from France, Italy, Luxembourg, Slovakia, Spain among others.
In the absence of Cuban participation the lawmakers declared solidarity with the "Cuban democrats that struggle inside and outside the island for freedom and full compliance with human rights in the Republic of Cuba" despite the conditions enforced by the style of government pursued by Raoul Castro with the ideological blessing of elder brother Fidel.
The people of Cuba, they said, had legitimate aspirations towards an immediate transition to full democratic order and political process -- a criticism of the gradual approach adopted in introducing reforms.
At the talks, Cuban leaders faced demands for "freedom of the press, freedom of action for political parties in a pluralist framework, free democratic elections and equally fair conditions for parties and candidates." Despite the government's promise to let Cubans practice a sort of free market capitalism, all those freedoms remain retrenched and no mention is made of any changes coming any time soon.
On Venezuela, the lawmakers were forthright in expressing support for the Democratic Unified Panel, the combined opposition that hopes to challenge Chavez at the next election.
There was no immediate Venezuelan government reaction to calls by the lawmakers to observe the basic conditions to ensure a fair election within the framework of full respect for human rights, freedom of expression and pluralism.
Chavez has also faced calls to allow the presence of international observers at the coming elections, a demand reiterated by the lawmakers in Montevideo.
Eurolat lawmakers also requested the Venezuelan government to refrain from using state institutions to the service of a political party, from using public propaganda and from obstructing the actions of opposition political parties, so as to ensure respect for democratic coexistence, the Venezuelan El Universal newspaper reported.
