Populacho Representante de la Unión Latinoamericana

Los miembros de la Población Mundial (Members of the Global Population),

Acting as the Populace Representative of Latin American Union, I would like to take this opportunity to discuss the extreme poverty issues facing our nations.

Poverty continues to be one of our region's main challenges. Latin America is the most unequal region in the world. Inequality is undermining the region's economic potential and the well-being of its population, since it increases poverty and reduces the impact of economic development on poverty reduction High inequality is rooted in exclusionary institutions that have been perpetuated ever since colonial times and that have survived different political and economic regimes. Inequality has been reproduced and transmitted through generations because Latin American political systems allow a differentiated access on the influence that social groups have in the decision making process, and it responds in different ways to the least favored groups that have less political representation and capacity of pressure.  Differences in opportunities and endowments tend to be based on race, ethnicity, rurality and gender. Those differences have a strong impact on the distribution of income, capital and political standing.

According to a study by the World bank, the richest decile of the population of Latin America earn. 48% of the total income, while the poorest 10% of the population earn only 1.6% of the income. In contrast, in developed countries, the top decile receives 29% of the total income, while the bottom decile earns 2.5%. The countries with the highest inequality in the region (as measured with the Gini index in the UN Development Report in 2007 were Haiti (59.5), Columbia (58.5), Bolivia (58.2), Honduras (55.3), Brazil (55.0), and Panama (54.9), while the countries with the lowest inequality in the region were Venezuela (43.4), Uruguay  (46.4) and Costa Rica (47.2).

Additionally, within the last decade the general populace has started to cling towards new and upcoming fundamentalist religious groups. These groups offer simple, universal answers to life’s deepest, most complex questions. Fundamentalist claim these answers come form God and portray themselves as defenders of God’s truth.  Our government has not provided our lower class with the comfort and solace that these religious fundamentalist groups have offered. These fundamentalists are able to offer shelter, food, clothing, and sometimes an education to the poorest of our nation. Our government needs to step up their efforts to decrease our extreme rich-poor gap, along with additional services and programs for our lower class citizens. Without that, I fear that some of the extreme liberal fundamentalist religious groups could potentially participate in violent acts of protest against our nations executives. As a representative of the populace I support the non-violent services some of these organizations have provided our lowest class citizens, but it is time that our government steps in to mediate this escalating crisis. It is about time the world realizes the extreme poverty that is slowly destroying our union. We need to start a complete overhaul of our government's priorities, starting with our lower class majority.

Respetuosamente (Respectfully),
José Ignacio Sánchez  
Populacho Representante de la Unión Latinoamericana (Populace Representative of the Latin American Union)