Speaking at the 19th Ibero-American Summit of Heads of State and Government in this Ecuadorian city, Alvarez said that the absence of conflicts among countries in the region does not mean there’s no criminality and violence, and sometimes, he pointed out, our actions seem inadequate to counter such scourges.

In Alvarez words, violence and organized crime erode the foundations on which peaceful and democratic coexistence in societies is built, as they undermine trust in public institutions.

“This lack of trust in public power to fight lawbreakers, the corrupt and organized crime weakens the ability to solve acute social problems.”

It is an irony, he lamented, that Latin America, one of the largest food producers on the planet, is still struggling with hunger and malnutrition, like a shadow obscuring the path to the development achieved in the last three decades.

Minister Álvarez said the notable changes in the climate and in the rain patterns have increased our exposure to natural phenomena that are increasingly powerful and unpredictable, which add to other threats such as the uncontrolled bloom of sargassum in the Caribbean and Central America.

Alvarez warned the Summit, whose theme is “Innovation, Inclusion and Sustainability”, that “without cooperation to improve our resilience and adaptation to the effects of climate change there will be more hunger, less water availability and greater food and citizen insecurity.”

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