5th Cumbre Alternativa Bolivariana para los Pueblos de Nuestra America

ALBA-TCP

Tratado de Comercio de los Pueblos

(5th Summit on the Bolivarian Alternative for the People of Our Americas – Treaty of Commerce of the People)

Report by Banbose Shango,
Venezuela Solidarity Network Regional Coordinator
May 14, 2007

CONTENTS

By participating in ALBA at the Invitation of our Cuban friends, the Venezuelan Solidarity (VSN) Network and the People of African Decent in Solidarity with Venezuela (PADS-V) were able to introduce a number of progressive organizations and movements, and governments to the work of VSN and PADS-V, and to learn of them and their struggles, to network.

What is it

ALBA-TCP, an acronym in Spanish for: the Bolivarian Alternative for the People of Our Americas – Treaty of Commerce for the People. The Spanish word ‘alba’ means dawn. Initiated by Cuba and Venezuela in Havana on December 14, 2004, ALBA represents a series of social, economic and cultural agreements for fair trade and non exclusive relationships between Latin American and Caribbean nations. Considered by some as the Socialism of the 21st Century, "it is a redefinition of development, that is people-orientated based on solidarity, fraternity, love, justice, liberty and equality." It is an alternative, to the US’ Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) which was soundly rejected by Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay and Venezuela in November 2005.

Bolivia joined ALBA in April 2006. That year, Venezuela, Cuba and Bolivia signed a People’s Trade Agreement. ALBA includes bilateral trade agreements between Venezuela, on the one hand, and Uruguay, Argentina, and Haiti, on the other. It goes beyond trade, harboring ambitious developmental projects, which include: Latin American plans for free health care and an education scholarship program; a Social Emergency Fund; a regional communication network system including the ‘Television of the South’, ‘TeleSUR’; a Development Bank of the South; and a regional petroleum company. (http://www.countercurrents.org/ecoergas040906.htm) “The number and reach of the Cuba-Venezuela pacts’ amount to a fusion of interest, resources and policies that in turn suggest movement towards a quasi – unitary economic and cultural federation.” [1]

Petrocaribe was formed by PDVSA and fourteen Caribbean nations in June 2005. The latter received Venezuelan oil at preferential rates and generous credit – 40 per cent cash payment, and the rest in annual installments over 25 years. Thousands of Venezuelan patients have travelled to Cuba in the last five years to receive free medical treatment. Telesur – conceived as a counterweight to CNN – was formed by Venezuela (51 per cent owner), Argentina, Cuba and Uruguay in 2005. The new network, which has local correspondents all over the Americas, is a success. [2]

Nicaragua joined ALBA in January 2007. And soon it is expected that Ecuador’ president elect Rafael Correa will become the 5th ALBA country with full membership. Signing bilateral and unilateral agreements with each other and with over 17 Caribbean and Latin American countries, ALBA is quickly and quietly replacing the FTAA and NAFTA.

As a framework for the implementation of ALBA the initial Joint Declaration states 12 guiding principles. In an abridged version:

1) “Trade and investment should not be ends in themselves, but instruments to achieve just and sustainable development.”

2) “Special and differential treatment, that takes in to account the level of development of the diverse countries and the dimension of their economies.”

3) “Economic complementarily and cooperation between the participant countries and not the competition between countries and productions.”

4) “Cooperation and solidarity that is expressed in special plans for the least developed countries in the region.” Including a Continental Literacy Plan; a Latin American plan for free health treatment for those in need and a scholarship plan in areas of largest interest for the “economic and social development.”

5) “The creation of a Social Emergency Fund”

6) “Integrated development in communications and transportation between the Latin American and Caribbean countries” including plans for highways, trains, shipping and airlines, telecommunications and others

7) “Actions to sponsor sustainable development through norms that protect the environment.”

8) “Energy integration between the countries of the region, in order to insure the supply of stable energy products to the benefit of the Latin American and Caribbean societies.” Including Venezuela’s proposal of the creation of Petroamerica.

9) “Promotion of investment of Latin American capital in Latin America and the Caribbean itself, with the objective of reducing the dependency of the countries of the region on foreign investment.” In order to do so, the creation, among others of the Latin American Investment Fund, the Development Bank of the South, and the Society of Latin American Reciprocal Guarantees.

10) “Defense of Latin American and Caribbean culture and the identity of the people of the region, with particular respect and promotion of the autonomous and indigenous cultures.” Including the creation of TeleSUR.

11) “Measure for the norms of intellectual property, while protecting the heritage of the Latin American and Caribbean countries from the voracity of the transnational corporations.”

12) “Coordination of positions of the multilateral sphere and in the processes of all negotiations with countries and blocks from other regions, including the struggle for democratization and transparency in international organisms, particularly in the United Nations”

… Achievement number one is Mission Milagro, a health project to be implemented all over Latin America and the Caribbean. In June 2006, after 15 months of implementation, more than 300,000 low-income people had been treated free of charges all over the continent, from which more than 193,000 were Venezuelans. Currently, several centers have been built in Venezuela, and Argentines; Bolivians, Ecuadorians, El Salvadorians, Guatemalans, Haitians, Mexicans, Panamas, Paraguayans, Peruvians and Uruguayans are traveling to both countries to be treated.

Televisiones del Sur SA (TeleSUR), achievement number two, is a television company owned by the Argentinean, Cuban, Uruguayan and Venezuelan States. As a project of the December 2004 Joint Declaration, it sees itself as a counter-weight to CNN, the dominant channel that propagates the US’ view of things in Latin America and the Caribbean. It started to broadcast in October 2005 from its head quarter in Caracas and has now offices in Argentina, Colombia, Cuba, Haiti, Mexico and Nicaragua, collaborating journalists in the rest of Latin American and the Caribbean, and is broadcasting in Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Cuba, Haiti, Mexico, Nicaragua, USA and Venezuela.

Another breakthrough was achieved in June 2005, when the Government of Venezuela and the Governments of the Associations of the Caribbean States signed the creation of Petrocaribe, offering oil at preferential rates to Caribbean countries and the possibility of partial payment in the form of other non-monetary goods and services. In parallel, Venezuela signed several agreements on oil with other countries from the south continent, such as the construction of a pipeline from Venezuela to Argentina through Brazil, or investments in refineries in Uruguay and Brazil. All these projects together open the door to the creation of Petroamerica, a Latin American petroleum company, also proposed in the December 2004 Joint Declaration.

Another important component of ALBA is the participative aspect. An example of it is the Bolivarian Congress of the People. In November 2003, 400 representatives of different social organizations from the hemisphere met in Caracas for the 1st Bolivarian Congress of the People, while Venezuela’s government was still on its own supporting ALBA. In their final declaration they affirmed their support to the alternative project of ALBA. In December 2005 the second Congress was held, which created the post of a permanent Secretary. The Secretary mandate is to collect proposals emanating from the social movements meeting at the Congress’ and to make them accessible to the interested people and to Governments, as is the document “Construyendo el ALBA desde los pueblos” (Constructing ALBA from the peoples). Since then, particularly the energy workers have held specific meetings to provide their inputs. This is not surprising as the issue is energy sustainability and dependence is a critical issue on the international terrain and Petrocaribe is an exciting new initiative.[3].

What Countries Participates in ALBA V:

There are currently three country components to ALBA:

1) ALBA full member’s governments:

2) ALBA agreement partners governments and countries:

3) ALBA Council of Social Movements, member’s countries

From the USA the Social Movement participants in ALBA-V, included: Medea Benjamin of Code Pink and Global Exchange; Monica Garcia, Youth Coordinator Southwest Workers Union; James Early, Smithsonian Institute and BoD' of TransAfrica Forum; Nicole Lee, TransAfrica Forum; Banbose Shango, Regional Coordinator, Venezuelan Solidarity Network and People of African Descent in Solidarity with Venezuela (PADS-V).

There were also delegations from through out South and Central America and the Caribbean, including: FMLN of El Salvador; CLACSO of Argentina; PSDH of Argentina, CB of Brazil; PSOL/SP of Brazil; URNG of Guatemala; AIH of the Dominican Republic; AAA of Peru and others from Chile and Honduras.

Also present were government officials from Dominica, Ecuador, St Lucas, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Uruguay and other countries.

The ALBA – V is well covered in www.Venezuelanalysis.com’ of Sunday April 29, 2007: click here to read the original article.

By: Chris Carlson - Venezuelanalysis.com

Mérida, April 29, 2007 (venezuelanalysis.com)— With an eye toward the integration and development of their countries, the leaders of Bolivia, Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Haiti met this weekend in Venezuela for the 5th ALBA Summit. Among the many proposals, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez proposed the extension of the Venezuelan health and education programs to all the nations of ALBA, as well as supplying all of their energy needs.

Hugo Chávez of Venezuela gave the opening remarks at the 5th ALBA Summit on Saturday, in the Venezuelan city of Barquisimeto, in the presence of Evo Morales of Bolivia, Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua, René Préval of Haiti, and Carlos Lage of Cuba. Also present were delegations representing Ecuador, Uruguay, Dominica, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

"ALBA is not an agreement of the elite. ALBA is born from down below, from the grassroots of the population," said Chávez in his opening remarks. "Without the people no union would be possible and that is one of the criticisms that we have always made of other integration efforts."
The idea of ALBA, the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas, was first proposed by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez in 2001 as an alternative to the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) promoted by the United States government. The initial ALBA agreement was signed in December 2004 between Hugo Chávez and Fidel Castro, and Bolivia and Nicaragua later joined the agreement. Haiti and Ecuador have also expressed interest in the agreement, but have not yet formally joined.

ALBA fundamentally rejects many of the principles of the free trade agreements promoted by Washington for the region. Instead, the objective of the ALBA agreement is to promote cooperation and collective development of the region with an emphasis on fighting poverty and social exclusion.
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega pointed out the difference yesterday between the free trade agreements and ALBA. "The objective is not necessarily to maintain high economic statistics or attract investment, but rather to benefit our populations, so that they have health care, education, jobs, and so they can get out of poverty."

"Integration is cooperation and solidarity," said Cuban Vice-president Carlos Lage. "To think about humans and not in markets means subordinating the economy to politics, and not subordinating politics to business, banks, and trans-nationals," he said.

The purpose of the meeting this weekend was to move forward with the initiative by defining new joint projects and strategies for integration. The first proposal was made by Hugo Chávez when he offered to supply oil to meet the energy needs of all the member countries. Along with the oil supply, Chávez offered to finance 50 percent of the countries' oil costs.

"The time has come for oil to provide for the development of our countries," said Chávez

In addition, the creation of an ALBA fund was announced with the purpose of financing social projects in the agricultural realm such as food production and the promotion of small and medium-sized companies.

Many joint projects are also being discussed including energetic, educational, medical, and mining agreements. Chávez announced today the possibility of three-way agreements between Bolivia, Cuba, and Venezuela. Some of the possibilities include the creation of joint-companies such as a joint Cuban-Venezuelan stainless steel plant that would have a capacity to produce 500 million tons of stainless steel per year. Another project is a Cuban-Venezuelan company to produce nickel in Cuba at a capacity of 68 tons a year.

With Nicaragua Venezuela is discussing the creation of an aluminum company in the country with the intention of supplying Nicaragua's internal market, as well as exporting to Latin America. And in Bolivia the discussion centers on the extraction of their large reserves of iron, along with the installation of a steel plant and two cement plants.

Exporting Health and Education

In the areas of education and health, President Chávez proposed to incorporate ALBA members and Haiti into the Venezuelan government "missions" that have had so much success in Venezuela. These health and education programs have allowed Venezuela to provide free medical attention to millions of Venezuelans and to eliminate illiteracy in the nation according to the government.

"I'm talking about ALBA Education and ALBA health," said Chávez. "This means something like our missions, but extending them to all of ALBA territory."

The health and education programs that the Chávez government has been developing in Venezuela over the last few were largely adopted from Cuba where they were also very successful, and have also been put into place by the Morales government in Bolivia. Chávez' new proposal would extend these programs to Haiti, Nicaragua, and Ecuador.

Chávez also proposed to the ALBA Summit a "confederation of Republics," as a way to create a structural formation for the ALBA agreement. The idea is to create an institutional structure that will transcend the bilateral agreements and allow for the future growth of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas.

The next meeting of ALBA will be held in either Havana or Bolivia. "The creation of an ALBA Council of Social Movement as a fundamental body in the organizational structure of ALBA was agreed on. Hugo Chavez suggested that the leaders of the social movements meet in Havana in the near future to discuss the formation of the new council. The Council of Social Movements will make up the new organizational structure of ALBA along with a Council of ALBA Ministers and a Council of ALBA Presidents. [9] Medea Benjamin, of Code Pink, was suggested to be the temporary regional representative for North America, since none of the other representatives there could make that decision without first consulting with their organizations.

It was also at this meeting that President Chavez announced that Venezuela was withdrawing its membership from the World Bank and the IMF, and that he was nationalizing the oil industry of Venezuela.

I spoke briefly with Jesus "Chucho" García, from the Network of Afro Venezuelans. He had just returned to Venezuela from Algeria and was outside of Caracas. He expressed an interest in meeting and finding out more about VSN and PADS-V, however he had to leave the country again the next day.

In response to the proposal for a workshop on ALBA at the USSF in Atlanta, members of the WSF there suggested that they would seek an ALBA tent and that our workshop could be held there.

In Caracas, I stayed at the Caracas Gran Meli and one day at the Hotel Cumberland. Both hotels were located in Caracas mid-town, only two blocks from the subway station and in the City’s Sabana Grande section. I participated in the Bolivarian May Day celebration in the downtown area. (Photos are below!)

In summarizing the important topics of the ALBA-V the following should be noted:

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