[en] Caracas Declaration

[info en fsfla.org]

                          Caracas Declaration

                         Need for international
                       and community cooperation
                       in Latin America in favor
                            of Free Software

                  Caracas, Venezuela.  July 20th, 2009

                Free Software Foundation Latin America's
                             First Meeting

== Preamble

In Caracas, Venezuela, on the 20th day of the month of July, 2009, in
conformance with the Freedom values established in the GNU Manifesto
and in the Free Software definition,

Considering that scientific and technologic knowledge amounts to a
need and a right of the peoples of Latin America, as prioritary policy
for the cultural, economic, social and political development of their
nations.

Considering that the commitment is inalienable to defend the rights of
users, developers, governments and businesses to use, adapt, share and
improve their software and resist the unauthorized use of personal
information by third parties, so as to be able to maintain control of
their informatics.

Considering that Free Software is an ethical way of technological
development, with collaborative features, based on or supported by a
social fabric formed by multidisciplinary teams that fight and
participate for a common end: Software Freedom and the values it
encompasses.

Considering that Free Software represents, for the Peoples and
Governments of Latin America, an opportunity for the adoption of Free
Open Standards in their administrative processes, that suit their
needs for implementing information systems for Electronic Government.

Considering that the adoption of Free Software developed with Free
Open Standards in Latin American governments will facilitate
interoperability of the information systems of the States,
contributing to faster and appropriate responses to citizens,
improving governability, along with a greater participation of users
in the maintenance of security levels of their software.

Considering that Free Software represents a unique opportunity for the
consolidation of Technological Sovereignty and Integration of the
Latin American peoples, and the elimination of technological lock in
caused by Proprietary Software monopolies.

Considering that a common understanding of these rights and freedoms
is of great importance for full compliance with said commitment.

As Free Software Foundation Latin America, we have decided to publish
the following message through this document, which proclaims “Software
Freedom” as a common goal, for which all Latin American nations ought
to strive, to the end of generating community work that promotes and
demands ethical values, through education and respect for the rights
and Freedoms to use, study, modify and distribute Free Software.  This
is how we have developed the following declaration titled “Caracas
Declaration” that contains recommendations for each one of the action
axes that we regard as priorities:

== On Local Communities and Free Software

We invite Latin American communities and their members to disseminate
all their activities and overall their success cases, for knowledge of
all local achievements at an international level will serve to
exemplify with facts the benefits of Freedom, encouraging other
communities to imitate them.

Likewise, for the success of our mission it is important to set aside
differences and problems that have become historical background,
taking community work initiatives, so that the many similarities
prevail over the few differences between local communities, to achieve
more and better results.

Software Freedom activists have a responsibility to present values,
defending and disseminating the essential Freedoms that define Free
Software, and it is to this end that we request them to inform users
about the harm caused by the Proprietary Software included in a
majority of the currently popular GNU/Linux distributions, and invite
them to promote wholly Free distributions, educating society for
Freedom and its values over technology.

Free Software Foundation Latin America, conscious of the needs and
requirements to confront the grave implications that Proprietary
Software imposes, renews its commitment to support the dissemination
and the community processes that promote synergy among local
communities on an international level, in favor of Freedom and the
values that Free Software promotes.

== On Free Software and Latin American States

Governments must represent and promote the interests of their peoples,
having a duty to ensure the control of the goods they administrate and
regulate, a reason for which they must keep them under control through
Software that brings with it freedom to run it for any purpose, to
study its source code to understand its functioning and adapt it to
their own needs, thereby ensuring the state's sovereignty in the
technological field and the continuity and integrity of access to
information.

This is why we invite governments to use and promote Free Software
(including free drivers and associated technologies) so that they can
comply with their duty to maintain self control, auditability and
sovereignty.

All that states produce in terms of Software is citizens' property and
thus a public good, that must be available to the people, respecting
the essential Freedoms of Free Software.  Furthermore, these public
goods must keep their function of serving citizens and must be
published under terms that promote the interests of the nations and of
society.  We summon governments to publish software they develop and
use, under licenses that not only respect, but also defend and promote
the appropriate values for all its users, that is, Free Software and
Copyleft licenses, that make the freedoms inseparable from the
software.

Governments of Latin America: promote a culture of respect for
Software Freedom, breaking the social inertia that induces governments
and people to give up their freedoms, enabling them to generate a
society that is freer, more equitable and just.

== Free Software in Latin American Education

In the field of education, teaching Free Software will instill the
ethical and moral values as a dynamic instrument of integration among
individuals, their social contexts and therefore in all nations.

We issue a call for the promotion, among students, of values towards
society, fomenting in them the cooperation and the will to share with
their neighbor through the use of Free Software, since the use of
Proprietary Software turns sharing and collaboration into a crime, and
restricts the Freedom to learn by not permitting access to the
knowledge about how the Software is built.

Another point is that Free Software enables a better use and
redistribution of the economic resources, and these savings enable
better educational platforms at education centers.

== Our Commitment

Free Software Foundation Latin America, acting as an international
network of organizations and people who promote Software Freedom, will
serve as a facilitating agent for the communication and diffusion of
local activities, also supporting initiatives by means of
representation and international bridging.

== About this document

This document springs out of the first meeting of Free Software
Foundation Latin America members, who in Caracas, Venezuela, met at
the Fifth National Congress on Free Software and decided to compose
this declaration.  It contains a set of impressions and positions
about community, educational and political aspects, in which the
primary focus given to the document is promoting Freedom values over
technology and ethical values of practical ones.

== About FSFLA

Free Software Foundation Latin America joined in 2005 the
international FSF network, previously formed by Free Software
Foundations in the United States, in Europe and in India.  These
sister organizations work in their corresponding geographies towards
promoting the same Free Software ideals and defending the same
freedoms for software users and developers, working locally but
cooperating globally.

----

Copyright 2009 FSFLA

Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this
entire document without royalty, provided the copyright notice, the
document's official URL, and this permission notice are preserved.

http://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2009-07-declaracion-de-caracas

----

The board members of Free Software Foundation Latin America sign in a
single act in the city of Caracas, Venezuela, on July 20th, 2009, with
cooperation of the board observer Eduardo Saavedra.