The heads of state of ALBA countries, at the 21st ALBA-TCP meeting in Havana, Cuba. Photo: Yaimi Revelo.
Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua found an alternative and inclusive platform where they could freely express their ideas and advocate for a true Latin American union, contrary to the Summit of the Americas being convened by the administration of US President Joe Biden in Los Angeles.
Ten days before the hemispheric meeting organized by Washington, Havana hosted the conference of the leaders of the ten nations that make up ALBA, the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America.
Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua—countries that the United States has tried to exclude from the meeting, as if they were not part of the American continent—showed Washington an inclusive route to follow to achieve sustainable and balanced development in Latin America.
“These are times to unite, not divide; to dialogue, not confront,” Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel affirmed during the inauguration of the ALBA Summit.
At the event, Díaz-Canel made it clear that the 9th Summit of the Americas will be a setback in hemispheric relations if the US refuses to invite all the sovereign states of the continent. Although the Cuban president stressed that he will not attend the event under any circumstance, he assured that no country should be left outside just because of Washington’s political whim.
“I appreciate the stance of the Latin American and Caribbean countries that have rejected the White House’s attempts to divide us,” said the Cuban president in his inaugural speech. “The Summit of the Americas should be for all the nations of the Americas, without exclusion, and not a meeting between the United States and its guests, depending on Washington’s political sympathies.”
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro Moros noted that “the ALBA meeting is our lifeboat. It will help us focus on working to improve life and achieve the development of our countries.”
“ALBA already has a heritage, a clear doctrine of the relationship between our peoples,” said the Venezuelan president. “It can show concrete results of our work since its foundation on December 14, 2004.”
The heads of State of St. Lucia, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines also took part in the event, some of them by video conference. They offered their support to Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela’s demands in the face of hostilities from Washington.
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The Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph Everard Gonsalves, announced that his country received the US invitation to the 9th Summit of the Americas. “However, I can assure you that I will not attend unless all of us get an invitation,” he stated.
In summary, the regional leaders agreed that it is time to build the Patria Grande, the one dreamed of by Simón Bolívar and José Martí, and this will only be possible through regional integration mechanisms, such as the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and ALBA-TCP.
“The United States has not yet understood that Latin America and the Caribbean have changed forever,” Díaz-Canel concluded. “We are strong. We are united.”
(Resumen Latinoamericano – English) by Alejandra García
