The BSF received greetings from Uberlandia, Minas Gerais' social forum. The regional Brazilian forum welcomes the extension of the forum process to the United States.

The 1st Regional Meeting of the Social Forum of the Triangulo Mineiro took place in the city of Uberlandia, Minas Gerais, in the central part of Brazil, last 14 and 16 of May, 2004. The Forum was held at the federal university of Uberlandia, with the participation of 1500 citizens representing social movements and organizations, which struggle for the right to land and shelter, gender, black people and youth movements. Trade unions, NGOs and civil groups participated in debates on Family Agriculture/ Land Reform/ Transgenic Seeds/ ALCA/ Militarization of Latin America/ Foreign and Internal Debts/ Education/ participation of civil society in the decision making processes.

The organizers of the Regional Social Forum are working to enlarge the movement and constitute a Regional Council, and are already preparing the second edition of the event for next year.

We bring our best wishes to all movements and organizations, which participate in the American Social Forum [BSF--ed.], so that they can all succeed in building a unified American Continent, based on democracy, solidarity, freedom, social justice, and full economic, political, social and cultural rights of the people of the entire America.

Uberlandia, Minas Gerais, Brazil July 2004

Paulo Gomes Executive Secretariat of the Social Forum of the Triangulo Mineiro

[the document was delivered by hand by Lourenco Andrade de Almeida of the Executive Secretariat of the Social Forum of the Triangulo Mineiro already translated from Portuguese into English]