The seventh summit of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA), a nine-nation anti-imperialist trading bloc established in 2004 by Cuba and Venezuela, was held in Cochabamba, Bolivia over October 16-17.
It concluded with a call to respect the rights of "mother earth", steps to apply a common currency for trade between ALBA nations (the "Sucre"), a meeting with social movement representatives, a proposal for a climate justice tribunal, and support for the legitimate president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya.
Taking part in the conference were presidents Evo Morales of Bolivia, Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua, Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, Rafael Correa of Ecuador, prime ministers Roosevelt Skerit of Dominica, Baldwin Spencer of Antigua and Barbuda, Ralph Gonsalvez of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and the vice-president of Cuba's ministers' council, Jose Ramon.
ALBA countries signed an agreement to implement the common currency "Sucre" (Unified System of Compensation of Reciprocal Payments). It will replace the US dollar in commercial exchange between member countries.
The idea of a common currency was first considered in the extraordinary ALBA summit in November 2008 in Caracas, which was called to respond to the global financial crisis. In April, Venezuelan economics minister Ali Rodriguez said it was hoped an experimental phase with the currency at the end of this year would begin, to be fully implemented from 2010.
The summit also agreed to create an export-import company, Albaexim, to establish a mechanism for cooperative trade between ALBA countries.
The final document calls for the formation of "super-national" companies in sectors such as steel, geological mapping of member nations' resources, energy, and forestry.
Morales proposed the creation of a "climate justice tribunal" that judges and sanctions nations that don't keep their environmental commitments. The final document said such a tribunal would aim to make "developed countries pay their climate debt and effectively reduce their greenhouse gas emissions".
The tribunal would be made up of representatives of underdeveloped countries, "who will take on the task of judging those responsible for the climate crisis that our planet is living".
Regarding Honduras, ALBA resolved that no member country will allow any representatives of the coup regime to enter their country. ALBA again demanded the reinstatement of Zelaya, who was overthrown in a military coup in June.
Chavez said: "I don't know what's going to happen in Honduras, but the people have a right to resist, be it armed."
The 66-point final declaration approved by all member countries begins with an analysis and criticism of capitalism, its "maximum expression, imperialism", climate change, the food crisis, the energy crisis and the financial crisis.
It then looked at how such crises can and should be dealt with.
The document also addressed migration, saying it is not a crime to migrate and examining its causes.
It supported strengthening of Latin American exchange and cooperation, and condemned the US-run military bases in Colombia and the US economic blockade on Cuba.
The second part of the document noted concrete agreements, ratified the continuation of various cross-country programs, such as the literacy program and the ALBA bank, and gave instructions to different councils within ALBA (such as the social council, social programs, politics council, and economy council) to follow up various agreements.
It also resolved to form a ministerial council of women and equal opportunities, as well as a sovereignty and defence council, to define "popular defence strategy", and to form a School of Dignity and Sovereignty of the Armed Forces of ALBA countries.
Two days before the summit, social movements held a meeting involving more than 700 delegates from 40 countries, who presented their final declaration to heads of state on October 17 at a large celebration.
[Abridged from Venezuelanalysis.com.]