Havana, Jan 29 (Prensa Latina) The Uruguayan Senator and former President, Jose Mujica, called on the progressive and leftist people of the world to fight for hope and cultivate the confidence of the peoples.

In a conference on the importance of culture in socio-economic development, the last one in an international conference dedicated to the National Hero of Cuba, Jose Marti, which was held in the Havana's Conference Center since Monday, Mujica said that the left-wing must be a bearer of the freedom culture.

'My generation thought that by changing the material structure and the relations of production in a society, the conditions for the rise of the new man could be created. Today we know that this interpretation can be quite superficial, Mujica said.

'The culture, difficult to change, plays a determining role, more important than other elements, he said.

The former president of Uruguay (2010-2015) lamented that despite their goals, many socialists and progressives experiences have failed to establish a liberating economy, and instead established one that replicated cultural additions of capitalism.

However, the current senator explained that there are not only cultures of subjugation.

'There are also the cultures of freedom and those are the ones that should promote the progressive parties and their members, in order to allow a glimpse of hope and to cultivate the confidence of the people'.

Mujica explained that these emancipatory practices must promote an economy of 'sobriety', which is not synonymous with poverty, but of rational use of resources.

'It will be difficult, because the people and their dreams are caught in a wasteful culture. However, we must face this challenge, or we are running the risk of remaining under the hegemony of the market until the resources are exhausted', he said.

Mujica considered that the progressive and leftist people must face these enormous challenges, a task that can not be waived, even if we lack political power.

'Progress comes with a lot of pain, is not safe, but incorporates irreversible breakthroughs', he said.

'Our part is to achieve that those breakthroughs are guided by solidarity, towards the future and the well-being of man', Mujica said.