President Nicolas Maduro (C) and other Latin American presidents at the 20th ALBA-TCP summit, Havana, Cuba, 2021. Photo: Twitter/ @periodicocubano
The 21st Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Peoples of Our America-People’s Trade Agreement (ALBA-TCP) will take place this Friday in Havana, according to the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs web page.
At the forum, the nations that make up the alliance “will share common development strategies and analyze the regional political situation,” the announcement said.
The meeting will be attended by leaders of Latin American and Caribbean countries that are members of the group, founded in 2004 at the initiative of Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez, then presidents of Cuba and Venezuela, as a response to the neoliberal project that Washington intended to impose on the continent.
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In addition to Cuba and Venezuela, the partnership also includes Nicaragua, Bolivia, Suriname, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda, St. Kitts and Nevis, and St. Lucia.
ALBA-TCP emphasizes the fight against social exclusion through mechanisms of solidarity, collaboration, and mutual respect.
ALBA has many significant projects that it initiated in that spirit, including the almost five million people who gained literacy through ALBA-TCP programs, and more than 3.6 million people who recovered their sight through the Miracle Mission.
Medical cooperation among the nations in the ALBA members stands out, particularly in the face of the COVID-19 epidemic, with the dispatch of medical brigades, vaccines and medical supplies.
The summit in Havana will take place just days before the 9th Summit of the Americas begins in Los Angeles, California, whose host, the United States government, excluded Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.
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This unilateral decision was rejected by governments of the hemisphere, which demanded that the Summit of the Americas be inclusive of all the countries of the Americas.
Some leaders, such as the presidents of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, and Bolivia, Luis Arce, announced that they will be absent from the Californian meeting if the exclusion of third nations is confirmed.
The significance of ALBA-type formations during this period is increased, as the US continues to try to order the countries into line using bribes and threats, as.it has done for decades.
Featured image: President Nicolas Maduro (C) and other Latin American presidents at the 20th ALBA-TCP summit, Havana, Cuba, 2021. Photo: Twitter/ @periodicocubano.
(Resumen Latinoamericano – English) by Orlando Oramas León
