EPRI’s Director at the University of Quintana Roo

Pedro Trujillo, talked about Guatemala’s governance

«The transition from autoritarism to democracy generated in the Guatemalan citizens, as in other Latin-American cities, great hope and illusion.  Not only we were going to be able to live in peace but, for the first time in recent history, democracy was the government model to follow.  The expectative that the system, by itself, could solve everything and fast, were frustrated by many reasons: passivity or incapacity to strengthen institutions, abuse, poor participation in public matters, absence of political leadership, monopoly of some political parties, difficulties to withstand autoritarism, corruption, insecurity and others», observed Pedro Trujillo, Director of the Institute of Political Studies and International Relations of the Francisco Marroquín University, in the lecture he presented during the VII International Summer Seminar: Caribbean, economy, politics and society, held in the University of Quintana Roo, from June 14th to 16th 1006.

«The balance to date: two lost decades.  The 80s, where the necessary economic takeoff was not finished, and the 90s, where democracy, the State of Law and a right liberty regimen has not been consolidated», he added in the presentation of last Friday 16th.

The division of Political Science and Humanities of the University of Quintana Roo, with the sponsorship of the Latin American and the Caribbean History Association, Mexican Association on Caribbean Studies and the Foreign Relation Secretary, organized the seminar with the objective to promote multidisciplinary studies on countries in the Caribbean, and the academic interchange between investigators, professors and postgraduate students interested in this region.

During the seminar around 50 different interventions and conferences were presented.  More than 60 international professors went from Cuba, Puerto Rico, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Honduras, Nicaragua and Spain; Trujillo was the only representative from Guatemala.

The main topics were security, tourism, ecology, relations between Mexico and the Caribbean, hurricanes, humanities, Mexico and society, Cuba and its foreign relations, migration, democracy and Central Americas and the Caribbean governance in history, among others.