The Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA), the Cuban- and Venezuelan-initiated Latin America trading bloc that bases itself on solidarity and cooperation, is continuing to expand and develop as a genuine alternative to the US-pushed neoliberal "free trade" policies that have caused widespread suffering across Latin America.
ALBA was originally proposed by Venezuela's socialist President Hugo Chavez as an alternative to Washington's proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas(the FTAA was finally defeated by Venezuelan-led opposition in 2005). ALBA is based on the principle of economic and political integration of Latin America to challenge US domination, taking its name from Simon Bolivar, who liberated much of South America from Spanish colonial rule.
Agreements signed between Venezuela and Cuba in 2004, with the aim of aiding the national sovereignty and economic independence of these impoverished nations, were the first concrete realisation of the project. ALBA has since incorporated Nicaragua and Bolivia, with Ecuador expressing interest in joining.
Chavez has even invited regional governments of the United States to join the trade bloc, saying that all people would benefit from this alternative model of trade and development. According to a Venezuelanalysis.com report, Chavez stated on August 7 that creating alternative structures based on Latin American integration will enable the countries to move "toward our financial independence, freeing us from the perverse chains of the International Monetary Fund [IMF]" and any other instruments of financial control by US imperialism.
Recent agreements signed as part of ALBA include the creation of five joint agri-businesses between Cuba and Venezuela to provide priority products for both countries, according to a July 31 Presna Latina report. The produce will include soy beans, rice, poultry, dairy products and timber products, and is aimed at guaranteeing food security. This is an extension of existing ALBA agreements whereby signatory countries, rather then competing against and seeking to exploit each other, plan to integrate their resources on the basis of cooperation.
Other recent agreements include the creation of a cultural fund to provide encouragement and financial grants to young, progressive Latin American artists. An ALBA Council of Social Movements was created during a meeting in Caracas, at which a number of political and social mass movements from across Latin America pledged their support for ALBA, according to an April 30 Venezuelanalysis.com report.
In an example of the pro-people principles that underpin ALBA, it was recently revealed that Cuba pays for most of the 90,000 barrels of crude oil a day it receives from Venezuela in social services. Cuba's ambassador to Venezuela, German Sanchez Otero, told the Dow Jones news wire on July 31 that although Cuba pays the same price for Venezuelan oil as other countries, over 50% of the oil bill is paid through the provision of doctors and nurses to staff Venezuela's free health-care clinics.
According to ALBA principles, health, education, literacy and anti-poverty measures are prioritised as the key beneficiaries of economic growth. The fifth ALBA summit in April this year discussed implementing the successful Cuban and Venezuelan social programs in other Latin American countries, with Cuba offering to take its literacy program to Haiti.
More than 50 activists from a range of Latin American groups attended the summit in Caracas. Social movement and political groups that have announced their support for ALBA include Mexican group Insurgent Women; El Salvador's Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN); the Brazil's Landless Workers Movement (MST) and the Central Unitaria de Trabajadores trade union; the Chilean Communist Party; and international peasant movment Via Campesina, which pledged to participate in "Mission Miracle", the Venezuelan- and Cuban-run health program that provides free operations to restore sight for poor people across the region.
Bolivian President Evo Morales told the summit, "I myself am a president as well as a social activist and trade unionist. I hope that in the future, you are here [on the platform where the presidents sat], and we can see if we are able to truly bring about change in Latin America." Ministers from Haiti, Dominica, Ecuador and Uruguay also attended.
The April summit proposed the creation of presidential, ministerial as well as social movement councils; committees to coordinate efforts in education, culture, health, investment, trade and finance; and a social oversight mechanism to ensure that ALBA is held accountable to Latin America's mass social movements. A meeting of ALBA foreign ministers in June proposed the creation of an ALBA bank to finance joint development projects, and the creation of joint companies between ALBA countries with an emphasis on industry, tourism, telecommunications, mining, transportation, and agriculture/food industry.
Venezuelanalysis.com reported on July 18 that the first meeting of the ALBA technical committee involving the four member countries had taken place in Caracas that week to discuss in more detail various integration projects raised at the summit. Concrete projects include plans to create joint Venezuelan-Cuban stainless steel and nickel companies, and an "inter-ALBA market" to help member countries economically complement each other.
While ALBA is the most developed example of Venezuela's efforts to integrate Latin American economies in a pro-people direction, the Chavez government, which is seeking to lead the construction of a "new socialism of the 21st century", has shown that it will work with anyone who is willing, and is consequently part of several other ventures. One example is PetroCaribe, an oil agreement between Venezuela and 13 Caribbean Community (CARICOM) governments, along with Cuba and the Dominican Republic, that allows countries to pay half of their oil bill to Venezuela at market price, and defer the other half for 25 years at an interest rate of 1%.
This agreement has provided relief to the small, underdeveloped nations of the Caribbean in the face of rising energy costs. Importantly, the agreement is restricted to state entities, excluding multinational corporations like Shell and Texaco and giving impetus to the development of run-down state industries in the Caribbean.
The agreement is also working to develop energy infrastructure in these poor nations, many of which import much of their energy, with Venezuela covering shipping costs and aiding the construction of refining stations and storage and distribution centres. As with Venezuela's agreements with Cuba, member countries can pay off their debts through the the provision of social services or goods. The agreement has allowed member countries to save US$450 million on fuel to date. An August 11 Associated Press article reported that Chavez declared: "Venezuela puts this oil wealth at the disposition of our peoples of the Caribbean. It belongs to all of us."
Venezuelanalysis.com reported on August 11 that Chavez had concluded a tour of Latin America to secure energy agreements with Uruguay, Ecuador and Argentina. During the tour, Chavez emphasised the importance of oil security in "detaching" from dependence on the US.
Venezuela has also intervened in the Common Market of the South (Mercosur), a free-trade block involving Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay. Although Mercosur was initially formed in 1992 as a neoliberal body to best negotiate terms within the planned FTAA, Venezuela was accepted as a member country last year with Chavez calling for the "decontamination" of neoliberal elements from Mercosur.
However, differences have erupted over the terms of Venezuela's entrance into Mercosur, with the right-wing controlled Brazilian senate attempting to place a series of barriers in the way.
One other way Venezuela is pushing for increasing economic independence for the region is through the Bank of the South (Bancosur), which aims to provide an alternative lending institution to the IMF and World Bank and prioritise loans that help develop the region's economies. Bancosur is intended to help Latin American countries break the trap of heavy debt repayments and reliance on financial institutions that protect US interests, providing low-cost loans without neoliberal conditions such as privatisation and deregulation.
So far, Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil have signed on, with member countries pledging to put aside 10% of their currency reserves as funding. Here, too, differences have begun to become clear between those pushing a more pro-people versus a more neoliberal approach. Nonetheless, ventures such as Bancosur have the potential to help further advance the cause of anti-corporate, pro-people integration of the region, and ultimately to liberate the region from chains of US domination.