The Bolivarian Alternative for the People of Our America (Spanish: Alternativa Bolivariana para los Pueblos de Nuestra América or ALBA - which also means 'dawn' in Spanish) is an international cooperation organization based upon the idea of social, political, and economic integration between the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean.

The agreement was initially proposed by the government of Venezuela as an alternative to the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA or ALCA in Spanish) proposed by the United States. While the ALBA itself has not yet become a hemispheric-wide trade agreement, Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua and Bolivia have entered into a Peoples' Trade Agreement (Spanish: "Tratado de Comercio de los Pueblos" - TCP) which aims to implement the principles of ALBA between those four nations. However, Nicaragua is also a member of the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA).

Map of participants in the ALBA. Honduras has not yet officially joined ALBA.

The adjective Bolivarian refers to general Simón Bolívar, who is revered as a hero throughout much of Latin America for his leadership of independence movements in South America against Spanish colonial power. In addition, Bolívar's thought about justice and equality in all America are the major axis in the ideology of Bolivarianism.

Unlike neoliberal free trade agreements, the ALBA represents an attempt at regional economic integration that is not based primarily on trade liberalization but on a vision of social welfare and mutual economic aid.

The Cuba-Venezuela Agreement ^[1], which was signed on December 14, 2004 by Presidents Hugo Chávez and Fidel Castro, was aimed at the exchange of medical resources and petroleum between both nations. Venezuela delivers about 96,000 barrels of oil per day from its state-owned petroleum operations to Cuba at very favorable prices and Cuba in exchange sent 20,000 state-employed medical staff and thousands of teachers to Venezuela's slums.

President Evo Morales of poor but gas-rich Bolivia joined the TCP on April 29, 2006, only days before he announced his intention to nationalize Bolivia's hydrocarbon assets.^[2] Newly elected President Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua, signed the agreement in January 2007;^[3] Venezuela agreed to forgive Nicaragua's $31 million debt as a result. On February 23, 2007 Ortega visited Caracas to solidify Nicaragua's participation in ALBA.^[4]. Rafael Correa, the president of Ecuador, signed a joint agreement with Hugo Chávez, to become a member of ALBA once he becomes president,^[5] but as of 2008 Ecuador has not joined the organization.

The Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, Baldwin Spencer, has hailed the signing of the trade agreement with Venezuela as a significant historical milestone in relations between the Caribbean and Latin America. He along with the Prime Ministers of Dominica and St. Vincent and the Grenadines signed onto ALBA.

In January 2008, Dominica, a small island in the Caribbean, joined ALBA.^[6]

On August 25th, Honduras' President signed an agreement to join the ALBA, with a rally in front of the Presidential House that was attended by many of the presidents of the countries that are part of ALBA, including Chavez and Morales.^[7]. However Congress has not yet approved adherence to the ALBA and there is great opposition to it by most sectors in Honduras.

Guiding principles of the ALBA

• 1. The integration prioritizes trade liberalization and investment.
• 2. The Bolivarian Alternative for the People of Our America(ALBA) is a proposal that focuses on combating poverty, social exclusion, and the high rates of illiteracy that exist mainly in the Americas and the Caribbean.
• 3. Through ALBA a crucial importance is placed on to human rights, labor and women, the defense of the environment and the physical integration
• 4. ALBA justifies the fight against protectionist policies and ruinous subsidies in industrialized countries when they deny the right of poor countries to protect their farmers and agricultural producers.
• 5. For poor countries where farming is vital, living conditions of millions of peasants and indigenous communities would be irreversibly damaged if market flooding were to occur on imported agricultural goods, even in cases where there is no subsidy.
• 6. Agricultural production is viewed as much more than the production of commodities. It is the basis for preserving cultural options, is a form of occupation of territory, defined patterns of relationship with nature, has to do directly with security and food self-sufficiency. In these countries agriculture is rather a way of life and can not be treated like any other economic activity.
• 7. ALBA has taken on the barriers to integration since its inception, namely:

• • A. The poverty of the majority of the population;
  • B. The profound inequalities and asymmetries between countries.
  • C. Exchange unequal and unfair terms of international relations.
  • D. The weight of an unpayable debt.
  • E. The imposition of structural adjustment policies of IMF and the WB and the rigid rules of the WTO which undermine the foundations of social and political support.
  • F. Barriers to access to information, knowledge and technology that are derived from the existing intellectual property agreements and,
  • G. Paying attention to problems affecting the consolidation of a true democracy, such as the monopolization of the media

• 8. Confront called State Reform that only led to brutal process of deregulation, privatization and dismantling of the capacities of governance.
• 9. In response to the brutal dissolution that he suffered for more than a decade of neoliberal hegemony, it is necessary now strengthening the rule based on citizen participation in public affairs.
• 10. We must question the advocacy of free trade per se, as if only that were enough to automatically ensure progress towards higher levels of growth and prosperity.
• 11. Without strong state intervention aimed at reducing disparities between countries, competition between unequals cannot but lead to the strengthening of the strongest at the expense of the weakest.
• 12. Deepening Latin American integration requires an economic agenda defined by sovereign states, without any harmful influence of international agencies.

See also

References

External links

• AlternativaBolivariana.org
• Venezuela's Answer to "Free Trade": The Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (December 7, 2006) - Focus on the Global South
• Cuba, Bolivia, Venezuela celebrate alternative to US-led trade pacts (April 30th, 2006) - Jamaica Observer
• Venezuela and the Caribbean (April 21st 2006) - Stabroek Newspaper Guyana.
• Editorial: Hugo Chávez and the Americans (May 12th 2005) - Stabroek Newspaper Guyana.
• Commentary: Is Mr Chavez's Bolivarian Alternative attractive? (February 26th 2004) - Stabroek Newspaper Guyana.
• Text of December 14, 2004 agreement between Venezuela and Cuba for the application of ALBA
• Venezuelan and Ecuadorian Presidents Seal Friendship with Joint Declaration (Dec 22nd, 2006) Venezuela Analysis

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