Representatives of the ten member countries of ALBA held a summit in Havana yesterday, Wednesday, for the 18th anniversary of that organization with the aim of reinforcing political “conciliation” and economic and social “cooperation”.
“Welcome to #Cuba, Latin American and Caribbean brothers. We will continue to show that cooperation and solidarity are our path. #ALBAUnida ”, said the host president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, on his Twitter account.
The Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) was born in 2004 by the now deceased presidents Hugo Chávez, of Venezuela, and Fidel Castro, of Cuba, in response to Washington’s failed project to create the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA).
It is currently made up of Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Grenada and Cuba. According to the Cuban presidency, it is “a political, economic and social alliance that defends the independence, self-determination and identity of the peoples that make it up.”
“Today we will celebrate the 18th anniversary of a transcendental event: the birth of ALBA-TCP, the integrationist dream of Fidel and Chávez,” Díaz-Canel added.