Developments in Latin America and
the
Caribbean
Fifteen Years in Defence of Unity, Peace and Integration
- Declaration of the XVII Summit
of ALBA-TCP
Heads of State and Government -
1. The Heads of State and Government and the
Heads of
Delegations of the member countries and invited
guests of the
Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our
America-Peoples' Trade
Treaty (ALBA-TCP), met in Havana on December 14,
2019 to
commemorate the 15th Anniversary of the Alliance,
founded by
Commanders Fidel Castro Ruz and Hugo Rafael Chávez
Frías, with a
firm commitment to strengthen it, as an expression
of the
aspirations for regional independence and a
bulwark of genuine
Latin American and Caribbean integration in the
face of growing
threats to regional self-determination,
sovereignty, peace and
stability.[1]
 2. We defend the
ideas of Bolívar, Martí, San Martín, Sucre,
O' Higgins, Petión, Morazán, Sandino, Maurice
Bishop, Garvey,
Túpac Katari, Bartolina Sisa, Chatoyer and other
heroes of Latin
American and Caribbean independence.
3. We emphasize that regional unity and
integration are the
only way to confront the domination exercised by
hegemonic
structures of world power, which have left our
peoples in a
historical condition of political, economic and
cultural
subordination and vulnerability.
4. We express that ALBA-TCP is the first genuine
Latin
American and Caribbean integration front, based on
principles of
solidarity, social justice, defense of
independence and
sovereignty, self-determination of peoples,
economic cooperation
and complementarity, a fruit of the deep
integrationist vocation
of its members and of its political will to
advance together
towards sustainable development, in order to
satisfy the needs of
our countries and people.
5. We highlight the social achievements of
ALBA-TCP, which
have been aimed at human beings, regardless of
race,
socioeconomic background, creed or political
position, allowing
millions of Latin American and Caribbean People to
benefit from
the social policies promoted by the Alliance.
6. We especially stress the Literacy Program, the
Milagro
Mission, the Care Program for Persons with
Disabilities, the
Latin American Children's Cardiology Hospital, the
training of
comprehensive doctors at the Latin American School
of
Medicine-ELAM in Cuba and Venezuela and
PetroCaribe, as well
as the Casas del ALBA, the ALBA Sports Games,
teleSUR and Radio
del Sur.
7. We point out the progress made by ALBA-TCP in
the economic
and financial sphere, especially after 11 years
since the
establishment of the Banco del ALBA, during which
time various
infrastructure, production and service projects
have been
developed in the different countries of the
region.
8. We ratify our commitment to the construction
of an
alternative model of economic sovereignty,
expressed in a New
Financial Architecture, in order to consolidate a
system of
exchange and reciprocal, supportive, participatory
and
complementary cooperation that strengthens our
economic and
commercial freedom.
9. We reaffirm our willingness to continue
working and
cooperating in confronting climate change, a
phenomenon that is a
product of the capitalist system, with its
irrational patterns of
production and consumption, which attack our
Mother Earth and
increase the frequency and intensity of natural
phenomena that
cause regrettable human and material losses.
10. We emphasize the participation and full
presence of social
movements, solidarity movements and popular
sectors in our
integration process, in order to advance in the
construction of
inclusive, culturally diverse and environmentally
responsible
societies that exclude the exploitation of human
beings.
11. We condemn the aggressive and interventionist
policy of
the United States government, which, with the
complicity of
national oligarchies and the corporate media,
combined with the
consequences of the harsh application of inhumane
neo-liberal
models, are the fundamental causes of dangerous
regional
instability.
12. We reaffirm that the current policy of the
United States
Government towards Our America poses challenges
that generate
clear violations of the principles enshrined in
the Charter of
the United Nations and International Law, as well
as the
postulates of the Proclamation of Latin America
and the Caribbean
as a Zone of Peace.
13. We reject the threats of the use of force by
the United
States Government against the Bolivarian Republic
of Venezuela
and the maintenance and expansion of criminal
unilateral coercive
measures against its people, which continue to be
the main threat
to peace in Latin America and the Caribbean. We
support the
Bolivarian Revolution, the Venezuelan People's
Civic-Military
Union and the Constitutional President of the
Bolivarian Republic
of Venezuela.
14. We reject the activation of the
Inter-American Treaty of
Reciprocal Assistance (TIAR) against the
Bolivarian Republic of
Venezuela that represents a danger to peace, which
could
facilitate the fabrication of a pretext and
establish the bases
for a possible military intervention against the
Bolivarian
people.
15. We condemn the coup d'état against the
constitutional
government of comrade Evo Morales Ayma in Bolivia,
which
constitutes a clear expression of the imperialist
strategy of the
United States in the Western Hemisphere and its
permanent
intention to violate the self-determination of our
peoples
according to their hegemonic pretenses. The
complicity of the
Bolivian oligarchy in the violent interruption of
democratic
institutions in the country, and the indulgent
support of other
oligarchies in the region for this flagrant
violation of the rule
of law and human rights leaves no room for doubt.
16. We emphasize that for the purpose of
recovering the spaces
conquered by the peoples with progressive
governments, the United
States Government, in collusion with the
oligarchies of the
region, revives methods that seemed to have been
overcome in the
history of Latin America and applies new formulas
of the
so-called unconventional warfare.
17. We denounce that intolerance, racism and
brutal repression
against social movements and native peoples have
multiplied in
Bolivia, with the clear determination to revert
the achievements
by its people during the presidency of comrade Evo
Morales
Ayma.
18. We denounce that the threats and the repeated
destabilizing attempts against the legitimate
government of the
sisterly Republic of Nicaragua are a profound
violation of
International Law. The Sandinista Government of
Nicaragua and its
President, Daniel Ortega Saavedra, have our
solidarity and
support.
19. We express our solidarity with the people of
the sisterly
Commonwealth of Dominica, and congratulate Prime
Minister
Roosevelt Skerrit on his re-election last December
6, with broad
popular support.
20. We reject interfering actions against the
political
process in Suriname and attempts to destabilize
that country. The
Constitutional Government of Suriname and its
President, Desire
Bouterse, have our solidarity and support.
21. We firmly reject the application of the
Monroe Doctrine.
We demand respect for the self-determination of
our peoples,
sovereignty, territorial integrity and
non-interference in the
domestic affairs of each State, the peaceful
settlement of
international disputes, the rejection of the
threat or use of
force in international relations, while denouncing
the use of
unconventional methods of warfare to overthrow
legitimate
governments and the imposition of unilateral
coercive measures
against Latin American and Caribbean countries.
22. We state that the rise of neo-liberal
governments to
political power in the region has led to a clear
reversing of
social welfare policies in several countries,
increasing poverty
rates, deep social inequalities and the
marginalization of broad
sectors of the population.
23. We declare that the growing corruption of
neo-liberal
governments, their exercise of power to maximize
the profits of
transnational corporations and a tiny minority of
privileged
elites, violence and police brutality, have caused
the outbreak
of massive demonstrations in Our America.
24. We denounce false statements of the U.S.,
attributing to
members of this Alliance the responsibility in the
organization
of the massive popular protests that have spread
throughout the
region, which aim to conceal that the failure of
the efforts of
neo-liberal governments are due to the
requirements imposed by
Washington.
25. We reject the shameful distortion of Latin
American
reality by the United States and the oligarchic
elites of the
region that seek to conceal the true origin of
popular
demonstrations.
26. We reject the self-proclaimed champions of
human rights
and democracy, who increasingly resort to
militarization and
repression to sustain the neo-liberal model in
crisis. The numbers
of dead, wounded and mutilated speak for
themselves of the
disproportionate use of force by repressive
bodies. The support
of several governments for the brutal repression
in several
countries and the complicit silence of others is
unacceptable.
27. We condemn the systematic actions of the
United States
government to discredit and sabotage the
international
cooperation provided by Cuba in the area of
healthcare in dozens
of countries, which has benefited millions of
people, as well as
the blatant pressure exerted against several
governments to
interrupt the acceptance of Cuban supportive
cooperation, to the
detriment of the right to life and access to
medical services for
their citizens.
28. We emphasize the recent adoption by the
General Assembly
of the United Nations of the resolution entitled
"Necessity of
ending the economic, commercial and financial
blockade imposed by
the United States of America against Cuba" by 187
votes in favor,
which once again demonstrated the overwhelming
isolation of the
U.S. government, within the context of an
international community
committed to truth, justice and respect for
International Law.
The regrettable decision of the Brazilian
government to vote
against and the Colombian government to abstain
confirm the
hijacking of their policies by sectors that are
openly servile to
the interests of the White House.
Political-cultural program in celebration of the
15th anniversary of
ALBA-TCP,
December 14, 2019 at University of Havana’s Grand
Stairway.
29. We express our solidarity with the brotherly
Caribbean
countries, which suffered genocide against their
native
population, the horrors of slavery, the
transatlantic slave trade
and colonial and neocolonial plundering; today
they face the
challenges resulting from climate change, natural
disasters and
the unjust financial system that endangers their
small economies.
We reaffirm the right of Caribbean countries to
receive fair,
special and differential treatment. The Caribbean
will always
find in ALBA-TCP a platform for articulation,
cooperation and
complementarity to defend its just claims and for
reparations.
30. We express our desire for unity and
integration that
confirms the importance of preserving the
Community of Latin
American and Caribbean States (CELAC), a genuine
mechanism to
promote the common interests of our nations
through political
agreement with respect for diversity. In this
regard, we commit
ourselves to support Mexico in its exercise of the
Pro Tempore
Presidency of the Community.
31. We welcome the incorporation of Antigua and
Barbuda as a
full member of the Banco del ALBA on 4 November
2019.
32. The challenges we face reaffirm the need to
close ranks in
the face of external threats, interference and
aggression, with
full confidence in victory. United we will
confront
interventionism and the coup plotters. We are
sustained by the
deep conviction that the construction of the
better future for
Our America that we desire and work for, is and
will increasingly
be in the strong, firm hands of the free peoples.
33. Let us ensure the realization of the rights
to life,
peace, self-determination and development to which
our peoples
are entitled. Let us unite! The victory of the
just causes we
defend depends on our unity.
"We seek solidarity not as an end but as a means
to fulfill
Our America's universal mission" -- José
Martí, Our
America
Havana, December 14, 2019
Meeting of the Ottawa chapter of ALBA Social
Movements, November 9,
2019, discusses the struggles of the
peoples in Latin America
against imperialism and neo-liberalism.
Note
1. Antigua and
Barbuda, Cuba, Dominica, Grenada, Nicaragua, St.
Christopher and
Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines,
Suriname, Venezuela are
currently members of ALBA-TCP
This article was published in
Volume 49 Number 32 - December 21, 2019
Article Link:
Developments in Latin America and
The
Caribbean: Fifteen Years in Defence of Unity, Peace and Integration - Declaration of the XVII Summit
Of ALBA-TCP
Heads of State and Government
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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