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The finger-pointing and debate at a meeting of heads of state in London over what actions to take underscore several fundamental aspects of the global economic crisis, according to the former president of Colombia.
César Gaviria said Thursday the G-20 meeting this week in Britain displays the divide between Europe and the United States over how bad the crisis is and how to deal with it.
In Salt Lake City for an appearance at the annual World Leaders Lecture Forum at the University of Utah, Gaviria said it also shows that no one is sure how to deal effectively with the crisis, which recent reports show is deepening in Europe. The United States unsuccessfully argued Thursday that European countries needed to put forth a larger stimulus package because of the size of the economic downturn.
"I'm more on the side of the American point of view," Gaviria said in an interview before his speech at the U. sponsored by the Tanner Humanities Center. "The world economy is shrinking at a pace nobody predicted."
Gaviria, also the former head of the Organization of American States, said government policies were "trial and error," given that no one understands yet how to get out of the morass. That reality underscores the need for continued open debate and criticism of government policies, said Gaviria, president of Colombia from 1990-94.
"We need debate. We need criticism."
After having learned from a series of economic crises stretching back several decades, Gaviria said Latin America has not experienced the financial meltdown this time that is gripping the United States and Europe.
But several countries -- Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia -- have serious problems. Instead of the "leftist" label normally applied to leaders of those countries, Gaviria said they followed "unorthodox" economic policies within a Latin American tradition of political populism.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has been a profligate spender not only internally but also in other countries, including the U.S., where he hoped to gain influence or score public-relations points, Gaviria said.
Despite the relative stability of the region, he said the global crisis will mean more questioning of the benefits of capitalism and globalization, systems that many already criticize because of the uneven distribution of benefits.
"It's going to be a very uphill battle" explaining the upsides of those two models, Gaviria said in his speech. "Capitalism is not something people accept as the best system."
Gaviria also said the U.S. war on illegal drugs has failed and he urged a public debate on a new approach. He pointed to European policies that treat addiction as a health problem rather than as a criminal offense, something different from legalization.
Rates of addiction in Europe are similar to the U.S. despite the tougher drug laws here, he said.
"Tougher policies don't reduce consumption," Gaviria said.
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