ALBA-TCP Holds XIX Summit of Heads of State in Venezuela

Representatives of the member countries of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America - Peoples' Trade Agreement (ALBA-TCP) arrived in Venezuela on Thursday to participate in the XIX Summit of Heads of State and Government.

The guests were received by Venezuelan authorities, headed by Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza, at the Simón Bolívar International Airport in the state of La Guaira, in the morning hours.

The summit's motto will be "Alliance for Life and Independence," in which "the regional political situation and the progress of its revitalization process during 2021, facing the challenges of the post-pandemic stage" will be discussed, according to the Alliance's website.

This ALBA-TCP summit is being held during the celebration of the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Carabobo in Venezuela, which consolidated the path to independence from the Spanish empire.

In this regard, the executive secretary of the entity, Sacha Llorenti, said on his Twitter account that "commemorating Carabobo is to recognize our identity as free men and women. Ours is an Alliance for life and independence".

Latin American unity for Cuba

During his speech, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez thanked the ALBA-TCP member states for "their unconditional support and backing for the resolution against the economic, commercial and financial blockade" imposed by the United States (U.S.), after 184 countries voted in favor of putting an end to it before the United Nations (U.N.) General Assembly.

"The international community rejected the illegal, criminal and genocidal policy that attempts to crush the heroic resistance of the Cuban people," the diplomat added and added that the Caribbean island "maintains its unchanging solidarity with the peoples" to continue confronting the pandemic.

Rodríguez expressed his solidarity with Venezuela's struggle "against imperialism and the oligarchy that seek to impede the progress of the work initiated by (Simón) Bolívar, forged by Commander (Hugo) Chávez, heroically defended by the Chavista people in civic-military union under the leadership of constitutional President Nicolás Maduro Moros."

In addition, he reiterated Cuba's firm support to the Nicaraguan people and the Government of reconciliation and national unity presided over by Comandante Daniel Ortega. 

Solidarity with Bolivia

For his part, the President of Bolivia, Luis Arce, said that "it is undoubtedly a significant date not only for Venezuela but for all the children of the great fatherland, the bicentennial of the Battle of Carabobo."

Arce expressed his gratitude to the governments that supported his country and denounced the violation of human rights (H.R.) against the Bolivian people during the coup d'état of 2019.

"ALBA-TCP, in accordance with its guiding principles, proposes food security and sovereignty, the reactivation of Petrocaribe, Banco del Alba, and the creation of the Health Observatory," commented the head of state.

ALBA-TCP for the defense of peoples

The President of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, affirmed on Thursday that the Alliance is the nucleus to strengthen the defense of our peoples against imperialist aggressions".

"These are the hardest moments of the sowing when it is blooming," said the head of state, given the new aggressions undertaken by the U.S. against Nicaraguans, but he affirmed that "the strength of the peoples is greater."

He also recalled that "the solidarity of ALBA- TCP was decisive for Nicaragua to have electricity and overcome illiteracy."

Solidarity in the Caribbean

The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Dominica, Roosevelt Skerrit, ratified his solidarity with the peoples and governments of Venezuela and Bolivia in the face of aggression from abroad while acknowledging Cuba's new victory at the U.N. General Assembly.

"Let us continue moving forward to continue raising the ideals of Bolivar, of Chavez, of Fidel (Castro)," exclaimed Skerrit.

For his part, the Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph Gonsalves, warned that "there is a lot of noise when we talk about digital colonialism; they want to keep us atomized, to transform our societies into social laboratories."

"ALBA-TCP as a whole, it is more than the sum of its parts; it is up to us to defend each other and not to be taken out of the way. Our duty is to defend the Cuban Revolution and the Bolivarian Revolution", said Gonsalves.

The Summit ended with the following declaration

DECLARATION OF THE 19TH ALBA-TCP SUMMIT OF HEADS  OF STATE AND GOVERNMENT 

“Alliance for Life and Independence” 

The Heads of State and Government and Heads of Delegations of the  member countries of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our  America – Peoples' Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP), as well as the invited  delegations, met on June 24th 2021, on the occasion of the  Commemoration of the Bicentennial of the Battle of Carabobo of the  Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, by endorsing this Declaration, we renew  our commitment to strengthen the integration and unity of our peoples as  the founding ideology of Commanders Hugo Chávez Frías and Fidel  Castro Ruz. 

1. We vindicate the ideology of our Latin American and Caribbean  independence heroes, Bolívar, Martí, San Martín, Sucre, O'Higgins,  Petión, Morazán, Sandino, Maurice Bishop, Garvey, Túpac Katari,  Bartolina Sisa, Chatoyer, among others, as a symbol of the historical  and cultural unity, the independence struggles and the preservation  of the most precious asset that is freedom.  

2. We recognize the historical significance of the Battle of Carabobo, a  milestone that sealed the independence of Venezuela under the  leadership of Liberator Simón Bolívar, a struggle in which the fierce 

character of the Venezuelan people was strengthened in defense of  their right to self-determination, their moral heritage and the values  of freedom, which transcended to Latin America, the Caribbean and  the world. 

3. We reaffirm our commitment to the Latin American and Caribbean  integration, which will allow us to jointly face the attempts of  imperialist domination and the growing threats to regional peace and  stability; with multilateralism and in accordance with the purposes  and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and International  Law, in line with the Proclamation of Latin America and the  Caribbean as a Zone of Peace. 

4. We stress the need to strengthen the Community of Latin American  and Caribbean States (CELAC) as a genuine mechanism for political  agreement between the 33 States of Our America, based on the  principle of unity in diversity. 

5. We welcome the reestablishment of constitutional order in the  Plurinational State of Bolivia, which thanks to the people's  consciousness and determination was able to dismantle the criminal  and corrupt coup and open a process of national reconciliation,  based on justice, self-determination and democracy. We are also  pleased with its return to legitimate regional forums for political  consultation and cooperation in pursuit of the welfare and  development of our peoples. 

6. We highlight the excellent efforts and initiatives of President Luis  Arce Catacora, both domestically and internationally, to move  forward towards economic reactivation, including debt financing and  relief measures and the efficient control of the pandemic. 

7. We welcome the installation of the new National Assembly of the  Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, carried out with absolute  compliance with the institutional framework and under peaceful  conditions. At the same time, we also welcome the next regional and  municipal elections, which will be the twenty-sixth in the last 21  years of the Bolivarian Revolution, an example of the solid  participative and active democracy of the brotherly Venezuelan  people.

8. We reiterate our unconditional support for the Sandinista  government, President Daniel Ortega Saavedra and the people of  Nicaragua in their decision to continue defending sovereignty, peace  and the important social, economic, security and national unity  advances achieved. 

9. We condemn the attacks and repeated destabilizing attempts  against the legitimate government of the sister Republic of  Nicaragua by the United States of America, promoting unilateral  coercive measures among other destabilizing actions, in an effort to  interfere in its internal affairs. 

10. We welcome the upcoming electoral process in the Republic of  Nicaragua and we demand the non-intervention in these matters,  which are exclusively within the jurisdiction of the Nicaraguan people  and institutions. 

11. We welcome and encourage the democratic forces in the election of  Government throughout the ALBA-TCP Region and the efforts been  made to achieve gender equality and the removal of discrimination  against indigenous people.  

12. We welcome the relationship between ALBA-TCP and the UN  system, CELAC, CARICOM, ACS, SICA, African Union, Arab  League, SELA, ECLAC, Eurasian Economic Community, ECOWAS,  under the principles of respect and non-intervention in internal  affairs, in order to guarantee greater equity and a greater  commitment to social and economic policies. 

13. We reiterate the right of the Caribbean countries to receive fair,  special and differential conditions. We reaffirm the unconditional and  necessary support for the defense and promotion of their just claims  and reparations. We strongly reject the measures adopted against  CARICOM brothers, which were considered non-cooperative  jurisdictions. 

14. We urge the review of the so-called graduation criteria that classify  most Latin American and Caribbean States as "middle-income  countries", and which hinder our access to credit and international  cooperation.

15. We express our sympathy for the fatalities that the COVID-19  pandemic has caused worldwide – particularly in our region – as well  as recognize the commitment of the ALBA-TCP countries to fight its  outbreak, and also the remarkable efforts of the health professionals  to address the health crisis, especially the work done by the Henry  Reeve Medical Contingent of the Republic of Cuba in the front line of  the fight against the pandemic, as well as the development of five  vaccine candidates, which is a clear demonstration of development,  sovereignty and solidarity. 

16. We reject the discredit campaign promoted by the government of the  United States against Cuban medical cooperation, which is offensive  and particularly immoral in the current context of the global health  crisis. 

17. We recognize the leadership of the World Health Organization  (WHO) in the process of raising awareness, promoting prevention  and fighting against COVID-19 and reiterate our support for the work  carried out by WHO to provide effective and efficient responses to  the international community in the face of the challenges posed by  the pandemic. 

18. We reaffirm the need for urgent universal vaccination against  COVID-19 as well as to guarantee a prompt, equitable, supportive,  non-discriminatory and affordable distribution of vaccines and  medical supplies and equipment to protect all. We recognize the  efforts of the COVAX global collaborative alliance under the  auspices of WHO. 

19. We endorse the calls to remove obstacles to access and distribution  of vaccines against this disease, including any unilateral coercive  measures aimed at hindering, limiting or increasing the cost of  access to vaccines, so that all production capacities available on the  planet can be used to meet the demand for vaccines as quickly as  possible. 

20. We welcome the implementation of the ALBA-TCP Vaccine Bank,  agreed at the 18th ALBA-TCP Summit of Heads of State and  Government, as well as the Medicines Bank, to contribute to  improving access to medical supplies, rapid tests and PCR tests, for  the benefit of all the countries of the Alliance.

21. We reiterate our strong rejection to the imposition of unilateral  coercive measures which violate international law causing  indiscriminate suffering to the peoples affected. Likewise, we  condemn the intensification of such measures by the government of  the United States of America against countries of the Alliance,  whose impacts become more severe and cruel in the context of the  pandemic. 

22. We express our commitment to the promotion and protection of the human rights for the entire world, especially the right to life and  health, and at the same time, we denounce the attempts of imperial  powers to use them for political purposes. In this regard, we call for  not tolerating any form of discrimination, racism or xenophobia,  particularly regarding the response to the pandemic. 

23. We renew our firmest condemnation against the genocidal  economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the  government of the United States of America against Cuba and the  more than 240 unilateral coercive measures adopted by the Trump  administration, unchanged by the current administration and whose  damages have caused losses of 17 billion dollars in the last five  years. 

24. We express our gratitude for the historic support of all the Member  States of the Alliance to the Resolution of the United Nations  General Assembly "Necessity of ending the economic, commercial  and financial blockade imposed by the United States of America  against Cuba", adopted last June 23rd, 2021. 

25. We express our categorical rejection to the absurd and inadmissible  inclusion of the Republic of Cuba in the spurious list of State  sponsors of terrorism by the United States Department of State. This  unilateral decision, widely rejected inside and outside the United  States, has a negative impact on every sector of Cuban society and  increases the country's difficulties in engaging in international trade,  carrying out financial operations and purchasing basic inputs. 

26. We express our deep concern for the massive violations of human  rights against the Colombian people and demand respect for the  dignity of the people, as well as their right to freedom of peaceful 

assembly. 

27. We reject the disgraceful behavior of the Secretary General of the  Organization of American States, who, overreaching his functions,  has led that Organization into an endless path of nonsense,  supporting violent actions, interfering in internal affairs and breaking  the constitutional order in some countries of the region. 

28. We recognize the remarkable work of the Alliance during the  aftermath of the events in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines caused  by the eruption of La Soufrière volcano, as a symbol of support and  solidarity of the ALBA-TCP countries with the people and the  Government of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. 

29. We emphasize that climate change is one of the main threats to  mankind, being Latin America and the Caribbean ones of the most  vulnerable regions of the planet to the adverse effects of this  phenomenon, and therefore, we demand coordinated and urgent  concrete action against climate change and the full implementation  of the commitments to the Parties of the United Nations Framework  Convention on Climate change and its Paris Agreement, based on  equity and the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities  and in this sense, we stress the need for developed countries to  comply with their historical responsibility in terms of mitigation and  the provision of means of implementation for developing countries. 

30. We reaffirm our commitment to the recognition and promotion of the  unwavering rights of Mother Earth and her unbreakable relationship  with human beings and we welcome the initiatives resulting from the  “Re-establishing our Connection with the Mother Earth: Global  Reflections for the Defense of Pachamama”, held in La Paz, Bolivia,  last April 22nd and 23rd, 2021, to be promoted by the countries of 

the Alliance in the scope of multilateral environmental diplomacy,  such as the call for an Assembly within the United Nations  Organization on the rights of Mother Earth and the right for water for  life. 

31. We reiterate our full support for the Caribbean countries in their  claim for compensation for the genocide of the indigenous peoples  and the crimes of slavery and the transatlantic slave trade. We also  express our commitment to the defense and promotion of Latin 

American and Caribbean culture and the identity of the peoples of  the region, with particular respect for and promotion of native and  indigenous cultures. 

32. We highlight the activities carried out to reactivate ALBA -TCP as a  fighting mechanism for peace, democracy, stability and the welfare  of the peoples of Our America. In this regard, we acknowledge the  outcomes of the various meetings held in the first semester of the  year, which contributed to strengthening the Alliance and its shared  values of solidarity, cooperation and complementarity. 

33. We support fostering the development of the ALBA-Petrocaribe  Complementary Economic Zone as a true model of productive and  technological development based on the values of the Alliance and  the principles of the Peoples' Trade Treaty. 

Caracas, june 24th 2021