By Gustavo A Maranges on December 15, 2022
The Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America – Peoples’ Trade Agreement (ALBA-TCP) finishing up its XXII meeting in Havana today, remains one of the most successful integration projects in Latin America. Regardless of the size of its membership in its 18 years of existence it continues to play an essential role in coalescing the most progressive countries of the region into a united front against neo liberal designs while helping to advance of the predominance of leftist forces while dealing with the growing hostility of the region’s oligarchies.
It should be remembered that ALBA was the driving force behind more practical and ambitious projects such as the Community of Latin America and Caribbean States (CELAC) and the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR).
ALBA was founded as a regional response to the Free Trade Agreement for the Americas (FTAA), a strategy by George W. Bush administration to tighten the leashes of neoliberalism on the region. Today its focus is on equitable cooperation and solidarity among its members. This is precisely one of the most important achievements of this project and the source of its value. Programs such as Petrocaribe and the triangular cooperation to rebuild Haiti after the 2010 earthquake demonstrated that it is possible to create mutually beneficial economic integration mechanisms beyond neoliberal ideas.
ALBA’s conquests in social matters are undeniable. Mass literacy programs, Operation Miracle (almost 36 million ophthalmological procedures in 17 years), and other programs to promote culture and sports offer the best testimony of how far has the ALBA-TCP gone in fulfilling its goals.
During these 18 years, ALBA-TCP has had its ups and downs since it is susceptible to political and economic changes in the region. It experienced an upward process from its creation in 2004 by Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez until 2015, when the neoliberal restoration cycle reemerged.
Given its dependence on the political environment, the current context revalues ALBA-TCP as a space for coordinated action to face its members’ common challenges. The energy, environmental, and food crisis harassing the world impacted this organization twice since its members are underdeveloped countries, mostly small island states.
In its conclusion the XXII Summit acknowledged the cooperation in these sectors as a key goal to alleviate the effects of the world crisis. The focus of the summit was to emphasize and tighten its solidarity in these precarious times, meaning to take advantage of the predominance of leftist forces while dealing with the growing hostility of the region’s oligarchies. The political crisis unfolding in Peru was an example of how quickly the pendulum can swing. In the final declaration the ALBA members made it clear, “We reject the political trap created by the right-wing forces against the constitutional president Pedro Castillo…..and we repudiate the repression by the law enforcement agencies against the Peruvian people who are defending a government they elected at the polls.”
The XXII Summit was attended by the Prime Ministers of Grenada (Dickon Mitchell), St. Vincent and the Grenadines (Ralph Gonsalves), and Dominica (Roosevelt Skerrit), as well as the Presidents of Cuba (Miguel Diaz-Canel), Nicaragua (Daniel Ortega), Bolivia (Luis Arce) and Venezuela (Nicolas Maduro). They all agreed on the opportunities ahead to strengthen the ALBA-TCP and acknowledged the resilience of this mechanism, which has served as the bastion of progressivism in the region.
Within this framework, the current Venezuelan Ambassador to Colombia, Feliz Plasencia, was elected as the new Executive Secretary of ALBA-TCP, replacing the Bolivian Sacha Llorenti, who has held the post since 2020.
The ALBA also attended a special session of the Cuban Parliament on the occasion of the organization’s 18th anniversary. The moment was also an opportunity to reject the destabilization attempts against Bolivia, Nicaragua, and Cuba by the United States and regional oligarchies.
ALBA-TCP is more than an economic integration mechanism, it is above all a political and social integration mechanism that has been a success but faces big challenges ahead.
Source: Resumen Latinoamericano – US