Latin American leaders gathering in Rio de Janeiro for a regional summit issued impassioned calls Thursday to help Haiti, the region's poorest country which has been rocked by political and natural disasters this year. In their inaugural speeches at the 18th Rio Group Summit both Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva referred to Haiti, saying the Caribbean nation was in urgent need of economic and social development to shore up democracy. "We must make a long-term commitment in Haiti...to put an end to the perverse cycle of crisis and democratic restoration," Toledo said. Toledo warned of the risks facing all of Latin America. "When there is poverty, when there is hunger of the magnitude that it is going through, the region runs the risk of destabilizing," he said. Lula da Silva said Haiti illustrated the need for "a new level of international cooperation, more vigorous and with greater solidarity". "Our regional solidarity is being tested by the grave crisis Haiti faces. The exclusive concern for maintaining public order will not be enough to sustain democracy," Lula said. --More 0008 Local Time 2108 GMT
