Lima Declaration, potato parade and party

This will be a bit of a rushed entry as I’m in the airport on my way back to Quito. You can read the Lima Declaration published yesterday here

I'm watching the news on the Presidents summit. They are currently in a meeting on the possible EU-Andean Communty association agreement. Europe still wants to negotiate a block-block agreement but Peru and Columbia are trying to push for a separate agreement with them, or for a faster process for them, with Ecuador and Bolivia entering later. There are plans to continue discussions at further meetings in June and July.

The Bolivian President Morales (hero of the alternative summit) spoke out very strongly against free trade agreements yesterday at the summit but the European Chancellor says that they hope that in further meetings they will reach an agreement and that there is a lot of different between what people say to the press and what happens in concrete work meetings.

Yesterday
I never made it to the closing event in the Plaza yesterday. The traffic chaos and security restrictions involved in crossing the city were too daunting. It seems the ceremony went well with rousing speeched by Evo Morales, huge crowds and diverse cultural events.

We stayed in Miraflores and enjoyed the cultural activities which had been put on in connection with the summit including a parade of traditional dancing and then a potato parade with surreal giant inflatable potato followed by people bearing placards with all Peru’s potato varieties, then music.


There were also art installations throughout the city – my favorite was a piece involving printers spewing out sheets with jumbled information about the summits from the windows of a high-rise building and they drifted down into the street with people leaping up to grab them and read them.









There is also a great photo exhibition on display called ‘ The climate is changing, so is my life’ with portraits of people ranging from a gardener in the very same park to fishermen, farmers mountaineers etc, all with a comment about how climate change is already affecting their lives and livelihoods.