A summit on Sunday and Monday will celebrate the fifth anniversary of the creation of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA) by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Cuban leader Fidel Castro. Fidel Castro was invited to attend, but has not appeared in public since becoming ill in 2006, after which he ceded power to his brother, Raul.
In addition to Chavez and Raul Castro, the leaders Evo Morales of Bolivia, Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua, the Foreign Minister of Ecuador, Fander Falconi are expected to attend, as well as the Chancellor for Manuel Zelaya, Patricia Rhodes, of Honduras, and leaders of Dominica, Antigua, Barbuda, St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
“We are forced to battle hard to finish our revolutions, and release, across this continent, ourselves from the clutches of Yankee imperialism” said Chavez on Saturday.
In a speech at the Conference Center, the Cuban president said that unity between Havana and Caracas is “a prime example of our dream of Latin American and Caribbean integration.”
The summit will be a stand against Washington, which the ALBA criticized for their role in the crisis following the departure of Zelaya on June 28th, and for signing an agreement with Bogota to use seven military bases in Colombia.
Foreign ministers enlisted a statement that includes full support for Zelaya, rejecting the use of U.S. bases in Colombia, and according to Cuban Vice Foreign Minister Rogelio Sierra, a single voice on the Copenhagen Summit on climate change, a subject on which he also slammed the United States.
“We are determining a harmonious life between man and nature,” said Bolivian Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca, commenting on the recovery of natural resources undertaken by Morales.
Another criticism was of the statement by Secretary of State in Washington, Hillary Clinton, who on Friday, referring to Bolivia, Nicaragua and Venezuela, warned Latin American countries of the consequences of “flirting” with Iran.
There are “leaders who are elected freely and legitimately, but after being elected, begin to undermine the constitutional order and the democratic private sector,” added Clinton.
“The United States has no authority to talk about terrorism when it is they who practice terrorism by sending troops to other countries, or build military bases there,” said Morales.
Beyond the political agenda, the summit will address projects in energy, education, health, technology, science and other areas, regional companies and the adoption of the Sucre, which is the currency created by ALBA to replace the dollar in trade between its members, and which will be implemented in January between Venezuela and Cuba.
We will be the first to have currency “real as the euro to increase our trade and free ourselves from the dictatorship of the dollar,” said Chavez.
With the support of Venezuelan oil and the self-proclaimed “anti-imperialist”, ALBA was created 14 December 2004 to counter free trade agreements then driven by Washington.
4 Responses to "ALBA Meets This Weekend"
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At least we know where we should put a bomb and be read of all these monsters who lie to the people in order to enslave them.
You are right Richard, corruption still is, as it has for very long, the underlying reason for the failure of most economic systems in all over the world is Corrupt Leadership, and these leftist dictators are very good at being corrupt.
Interesting, Richard. Thank you. Good comment from someone who appears to know some of the basic issues behind the corruption that leads to poverty and eventually social injustice.
ALBA means nothing to the poor of Central America. Manipulation of resources in key locations makes all the difference. And there lies your corruption.
If the PEOPLE could stop work for 1 week ALBA would see that: “those who have not the labor to make, have nothing.”
PS: I support FAIR TRADE AGREEMENT
What a team they have these “MALVADOS”: FIDEL CASTRO, RAUL CASTRO, HUGO CHAVEZ, and the list goes on to indicate a group of killers and thiefs that have kidnapped their people like Z’liar wanted to do in Honduras, but the wise Honduran people prevented this from happening.