ALBA-TCP holds summit in Venezuela
ALBA-TCP holds summit in Venezuela
The political and spiritual legacy of Hugo Chávez
Hugo Rafael Chávez Fríaz was born on July 28, 1954, in a rural village of Venezuela. The son of a schoolteacher of peasant origins, Chávez was reared principally by his half-indigenous grandmother, who lived near his parents. At age 17, Chávez entered the Military Academy of Venezuela, earning a commission as Second Lieutenant in 1975. Although uninterested in political or world affairs as an adolescent, during his time at the Military Academy he read the writings of Bolívar, Mao, and Che, which led him to the development of an understanding that he would later describe as a synthesis of Bolivarian and Maoist concepts. He pursued these issues further in a master’s program in political science at Simón Bolivar University. He continued to read books of historical, political, social, and literary significance during his military and political careers.
During the 1970s and 1980s, Chávez led young officers in the development of a reform movement within the military. On February 4, 1992, he led one hundred military officers in an unsuccessful coup d’état, which had intended to convene a constitutional assembly and establish an alternative constitutional foundation for the republic. Imprisoned for the failed coup, he was released from prison in 1994 and formed the Bolivarian Fifth Republic Movement, which sought to establish a constitutional assembly by capturing the presidency through electoral means. He was elected president in 1998 and assumed the presidency on February 2, 1999, immediately issuing a decree calling for a constitutional assembly. A constitutional referendum was held, a Constitutional Assembly was elected, and a new constitution was developed and approved. The Constitution included provisions that established structures for participatory democracy, and it established protections for state enterprises from privatization. It changed the name of the country to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
In 2000, Chávez was elected president to a six-year term under the new Constitution. His government pursued a policy that he described as “a model of endogenous development that is not imposed on us by anyone, neither the Creole elite nor the imperialist elite, our own economic development.” The model seeks to develop national production, giving emphasis to the development of energy, agriculture, and basic industry, and providing support for small and medium producers, marshalling profits from the international sale of petroleum to finance the development of productive capacity. Chávez described the construction of an alternative economy as a long-term project, which would take twenty to forty years to put into practice.
In 2006, Chávez was elected to a second term for 2007 to 2013, attaining nearly 63% of the vote, with a 77% voter turnout. He was elected to a third term on October 7, 2012, attaining 54% of the vote, with an 80% turnout. He died of cancer on March 5, 2013.
The origins of ALBA
Chávez visited Cuba for the first time in 1994, shortly after his release from prison and before his campaign for the presidency of Venezuela. He was warmly received by Fidel, who met him at the airport. At an address at the University of Havana on December 14, 1994, Chavez expressed his hope that one day Venezuela and Cuba would be mutually supporting “a Latin American revolutionary project, imbued with the idea of a Hispanic American, Latin American and Caribbean continent, integrated as the one nation that we are.” Exactly ten years later, in a ceremony decorating Chávez for his achievements, Fidel quoted extensively from Chávez’s 1994 address at the University of Havana, so that, Fidel said, all would “know who Hugo Chávez is.”
Subsequently, from 1999 to 2002, in various Latin American and Caribbean forums, Chávez proposed the creation of a mechanism that would promote solutions to the various problems resulting from neocolonial structures and U.S. imperialist policies. The new mechanism ought to be based on the principle of the unity and integration of the nations of the region, a vision formulated in the nineteenth century by Simón Bolívar and José Martí.
The first concrete step in the implementation of the idea was taken on December 14, 2004. Chávez and Fidel signed in Havana the Joint Declaration between the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and the Republic of Cuba for the establishment of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA), as the Alliance was then known.
The Joint Declaration of 2004 maintained that integration in Latin America historically “has served as a mechanism for deepening dependency and foreign domination.” It proposed an alternative form of integration: “Only an integration based on cooperation, solidarity, and the common will to advance together with one accord toward the highest levels of development can satisfy the needs and desires of the Latin American and Caribbean countries, and at the same time preserve their independence, sovereignty, and identity.” The Joint Declaration proclaimed that ALBA seeks social justice and popular democracy: “ALBA has as its objective the transformation of Latin American societies, making them more just, cultured, participatory, and characterized by solidarity. It therefore is conceived as an integral process that assures the elimination of social inequalities and promotes the quality of life and an effective participation of the peoples in the shaping of their own destiny.”
The 2004 Joint Declaration maintained that just and sustainable development is one of the principles of ALBA, and this implies an active role of the state. “Commerce and investment ought not be ends in themselves, but instruments for attaining a just and sustainable development, since the true Latin American and Caribbean integration cannot be a blind product of the market, nor simply a strategy to amplify external markets or stimulate commerce. To attain a just and sustainable development, effective participation of the State as regulator and coordinator of economic activity is required.”
The XXIII Summit of ALBA-TCP
ALBA is now ALBA-TCP (initials in Spanish for Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America—Commercial Treaty for the Peoples of our America). And it now consists of ten member states.
The Alliance met on April 24, 2024, for its twenty-third summit of heads of state, hosted by Nicolás Maduro, President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. The Summit was attended by seven heads of state in addition to Maduro, namely, Daniel Ortega (Nicaragua), Miguel Díaz-Canel (Cuba), Luis Arce (Bolivia), Gaston Browne (Antigua and Barbuda), Ralph Gonsalves (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines), Roosevelt Skerrit (Dominica), and Phillip J. Pierre (Saint Lucía). Grenada was represented by Foreign Minister Joseph Andall; and Saint Kitts and Nevis by its ambassador to Venezuela, Norgen Wilson.
The XXIII Summit emitted a Declaration in which the heads of state reaffirmed their bond with the “unionist vocations and political will of the founding leaders of our Alliance, Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías and Fidel Castro Ruz,” and declared their commitment to
the strengthening of ALBA-TCP as a mechanism for union, dialogue, and political consensus, based on the principles of solidarity, social justice, cooperation, and economic complementarity, which allows us to better confront the dangers and challenges arising from the complex world scenario, characterized by the deepening of disrespect and the constant threat to peace, security, sovereignty, and self-determination of nations.
The Declaration reaffirmed the support of ALBA-TCP for the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC for its initials in Spanish), as a “genuine mechanism of regional integration, dialogue, and political consensus,” especially noting its proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace at its Second Summit in Havana, Cuba, in January 2014.
In accordance with their “commitment to the defense of national sovereignty without foreign interference,” the heads of state rejected the use of the two-century old Monroe Doctrine to “justify destabilizing and interventionist actions in Latin America and the Caribbean.” In this vein, they “strongly condemn any attempt to establish new forms of domination in the region.” They “claim the right to live in a continent free of imperial hegemony.”
Accordingly, the Declaration demands the immediate lifting of the criminal and coercive measures imposed against the peoples and governments of Nicaragua and Venezuela, including reparations and compensation to the countries and peoples affected. It supports the demand of Venezuela against the United States for its arbitrary decisions to revert licenses that facilitate operations in various areas of production, for the purpose of the extortion of the Venezuelan government.
In the same vein, the Declaration ratifies its “strong condemnation of the genocidal and illegal economic, commercial, and financial blockade by the government of the United States against Cuba.” And it demands the removal of Cuba from the “spurious and arbitrary unilateral list of countries that supposedly sponsor terrorism,” which makes it difficult for Cuba to engage in international commerce, to carry out financial transactions, and to acquire materials necessary for production.
The Declaration denounces “the utilization of strategies of unconventional war against the governments and democratically elected leaders in the region, which has included the use of politically motivated judicial processes without substance.” This constitutes “lawfare” as a new form of warfare.
The Declaration proclaims “the urgent need to coordinate mechanisms of solidarity and effective cooperation with the people of the sister Republic of Haiti, in order that it can advance in the path toward lasting peace and sustainable development.” The Declaration rejects, however, any “scheme of interventionism imposed by imperialist interests,” affirming that respect for the sovereignty of Haiti must be sustained.
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, in his speech to the Summit, emphasized the special place of Haiti in Latin American and Caribbean consciousness, for having forged the first revolution in the region, a revolution that sought both political independence and social transformation, for which it was unjustly punished for decades. The Cuban President declared that “the international community owes a great debt to the people of the sister Republic of Haiti, who were subjected to reprehensible punishments by imperial powers and have been unjustly forced to pay a high price for leading the continent's first social revolution.” He reaffirmed that “the Haitian people have the right to find a peaceful, sustainable and lasting solution to the challenges they face, based on full respect for their self-determination, sovereignty and independence.”
In the Declaration of the XXIII Summit, the heads of state express satisfaction with “the important role of BRICS in the construction of a multipolar and pluricentric world.” They voice support for those countries of the Alliance that have indicated interest in adding their contributions to the BRICS bloc of emerging economies. And they express the hope that a dialogue between ALBA-TCP and BRICS can be established, thus contributing to the development of a more inclusive world economy.
The Declaration expresses support for the designation of Jorge Arreaza of Venezuela as the new Executive Secretary of ALBA-TCP. It charges Arreaza with the task of dynamizing the construction of a new regional financial architecture through instruments like the Bank of ALBA, the Petrocaribe Accord, and the regional currency known as the Sucre.
The XXIII Summit of ALBA-TCP also emitted a plan of action, “Agenda 2030.” Venezuelan President Maduro, in his capacity as moderator of the Summit, pointed out that Agenda 2030 treats concrete short-term and middle-term goals. He outlined seven fundamental areas contained in Agenda 2030.
(1) The Creation of the Agency of Cooperation and Development of ALBA-TCP, for the purpose of consolidating “a multilateral offensive to capture world resources for projects of integral development in our countries.”
(2) To study and approve a plan for the relaunching of Petrocaribe, which has been stopped, but not destroyed, by a bombardment of sanctions by the United States. (Petrocaribe enabled the purchase of Venezuelan petroleum by Caribbean countries under favorable payment and financing terms, accompanied by support with respect to the development of energy infrastructure).
(3) Approval of a proposed ALBA Food Plan, which seeks the attainment of regional self-sufficiency in the production of foods, organic seeds, non-contaminating fertilizers, agricultural machinery, and financing for the production and commercialization of food products. The proposal also includes joint projects for the scientific and technological development of productive capacities.
(4) To definitively adopt the Commercial Treaty of the Peoples, proposed by the Plurinational State of Bolivia, in order to establish the countries of ALBA as a zone of just trade and economic complementarity, with equality among all countries, regardless of size and level of development.
(5) To create the University of ALBA, which would facilitate a program for scientific, cultural, communicational, and academic development.
(6) To relaunch the ALBA Health Plan, which seeks the education of doctors, nurses, and medical specialists as well as the providing of primary health services in local communities.
(7) To advance in the creation of an ALBA-TCP agency for the mitigation of the impact of the climate emergency.
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Further considerations
Launched in 2004 by Chávez and Fidel and based in the unionist and integrationist concepts and principles of Bolívar and Martí, ALBA-TCP has evolved with ideological clarity, but it is still limited in scope, such that the decision for a nation to join the Alliance continues to be polemical in the region. It is less politically difficult to join the Alliance in the Caribbean, due to the economic benefits of Petrocaribe. CELAC is more advanced than ALBA-TCP in territorial scope, but CELAC has its contradictions, as a result of constant imperialist interference, taking advantage of imperialism’s natural alliances in the region, namely, the historic estate bourgeoisie and the portion of the ideologically divided middle class that is influenced by imperialist ideologies.
However, in spite of its limitations and contradictions, the process of Latin American and Caribbean union and integration is a significant political development, constituting an important change in Latin American political reality. The creation of an organization (CELAC) consisting of all thirty-three nations of the region (the entire continent except the USA and Canada), able to attain consensus in 2014 in Havana on an anti-imperialist declaration, was unthinkable prior to 2004, existing only in the dreams of Chávez and Fidel.
Moreover, Latin American and Caribbean unity and integration is not an isolated phenomenon in the world during the first quarter of the twenty-first century. Four other parallel and interconnected processes can be identified: the renewal of the Non-Aligned Movement, affirming the foundational principles of a post-imperialist world; the emergence of parallel regional integration projects in other regions, pointing toward a pluripolar world; the evolution of BRICS to become an association of regional powers, connected to regional integration projects; and the emergence of China as a large dynamic economy, directed by a state and an exceptional leader committed to leading humanity toward an international world order based on cooperation, which is establishing mutually beneficial trade in all regions of the world.
Taken together, these five dynamics point to the possible emergence of a post-imperialist, pluripolar world-system, in which respect for the equal sovereignty of nations is the norm, sustained by the common interest of humanity in a peaceful and prosperous world. The greatest threat to this possibility is an increasingly decadent and destructive U.S. imperialism, acting in many situations with the support of the European former colonial powers. The Western elites have demonstrated a failure to grasp the meaning of evolving world dynamics since the end of the Second World War. They have failed to understand that the European-centered neocolonial world-system is no longer sustainable, inasmuch as the contradictions of the neocolonial world-system can only be resolved by transforming it into a world-system of another type.
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