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The regional integration bloc has to become an example of solidarity in confronting the pandemic, Sacha Llorenti says.
The executive secretary of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of America - People's Trade Agreement (ALBA-TCP), Sacha Llorenti, opened the meeting of the Social Council of the bloc, aimed at coordinating efforts to guarantee massive and free access to vaccines and other medicines for the peoples of its member countries.
With the slogan "United against COVID-19", the meeting responds to the proposal of Venezuela and Cuba's presidents, Nicolás Maduro Moros, and Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, respectively, about the creation of a vaccine fund for ALBA-TCP countries.
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Llorenti reviewed the situation of COVID-19 in America and the world, emphasizing its lethality. He further highlighted that, on average, more than 11,900 people had died every day, the equivalent of one death every 8 seconds.
The executive secretary of the bloc criticized the neoliberal system that proposes confronting the pandemic following the market rules, despite the recommendations of international institutions, particularly the World Health Organization (WHO), which have warned that only solidarity will guarantee the success of the struggle against COVID-19.
"Los países ricos están acumulando las vacunas, hasta nueve veces el número de sus ciudadanos. ¿Quién decide a dónde va la vacuna? Es el mercado el que está decidiendo" señala el Secretario Ejecutivo @SachaLlorenti https://t.co/vIZdfmoZUS
— ALBA-TCP (@ALBATCP) January 19, 2021
"Rich countries are stockpiling vaccines, up to nine times the number of their citizens. Who decides where the vaccine goes? It's the market that's deciding," says the Executive Secretary SachaLlorenti."
Llorenti said that "this scenario is particularly stark in relation to the vaccines already made available to the international community. Rich countries are stockpiling vaccines, up to nine times the number of their citizens. Who decides where the vaccine goes? It's the market that's deciding," he said.
Llorenti emphasized that, in the face of this way of working by the countries that support neo-liberalism, examples are being raised such as those of Cuba and Venezuela, which have supported with personnel and resources numerous populations from all regions of the world.
In that sense, per his statement, the ALBA-TCP bloc must act: "Our Alliance must be an example of how to confront a common threat," he concluded.
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