We acknowledge with satisfaction the
unquestionable advance of the ALBA-TCP in its first
five years of existence, and its effective
confirmation as a political, economic and social
alliance in defense of the sovereignty, self-determination,
identity and unity of the peoples of Latin America
and the Caribbean.
We ratify the founding principles of the ALBA-TCP
and the public statements issued in summit meetings
and other encounters organized during its five years
of successful labor.
We highlight the results achieved with projects
already underway or in process of execution in favor
of social development, the training of human
resources, literacy and post-literacy, the provision
of health services, the creation of productive
infrastructure, greater inter-connectivity,
productive complementation, the promotion of food
production, capital training for investment projects,
as well as the sustained impact of these results in
favor of justice and an improved distribution of
wealth in order to achieve greater development and
the participation of the peoples, and to eliminate
marginality by integrating Latin American and
Caribbean populations, including original
populations and those traditionally discriminated
against or disfavored.
We underline the important contribution to the
political and cultural heritage of the whole region
signified by the practical implementation of the
principles of cooperation, solidarity, social
justice and economic complementariness in those
countries that sustain integration within the ALBA-TCP.
We highlight that the cultures of the Latin
American and Caribbean peoples constitute one of the
most prized strengths for preserving and
consolidating their identities in the face of
globalizing processes of a hegemonic nature.
We reiterate our decision to consolidate the
capacity for political coordination achieved by
ALBA-TCP in order to attend to issues of regional or
global reach, as demonstrated by successful action
in distinct multilateral agencies directed at the
construction of a more just and solidarity focussed
world, and as a historic process of struggle for the
dignity and sovereignty of our peoples.
We express our satisfaction with the results of
the 7th Extraordinary Summit that took place in
Cochabamba, Plurinational State of Bolivia, on
October 16 -17, 2009, which constituted a
significant step forward in the consolidation of the
ALBA-TCP, in its potential for economic and social
integration, and its capacities for political
coordination.
We highlight the growing role currently
represented by social movements in our region, both
in support of popular and national processes that
are being undertaken in the member countries of the
ALBA-TCP, and in resistance to the offensive of
right-wing forces headed by the United States on the
continent.
We salute the overwhelming electoral victory of
President Evo Morales in Bolivia, an expression of
the support of our peoples for progressive processes
and social transformations based on equality, social
justice, sovereignty and self-determination,
principles that guide the Bolivarian Alliance for
the Peoples of Our America. We equally salute the
Uruguayan people on the recent electoral process in
that country, which gave the victory to José Pepe
Mujica, a known popular social fighter, a fact that
reaffirms the advance of progressive processes of
change in the region.
We ratify our strongest condemnation of the coup
d’état perpetuated in Honduras on June 28, 2009 and,
in full accordance with that position, likewise
condemn the proposition of legitimizing, via the
spurious elections of November 29, the military coup,
the kidnapping of the president, the violation of
the constitution, the repression of the people, the
deaths, arbitrary detentions and disappearance of
persons, and the de facto regime that usurped power;
and in that context, ratify that we will not
recognize the illegitimate electoral process or its
results, and that we will take the actions that we
consider pertinent.
We express our firmest conviction that the
military coup in Honduras, perpetrated with the
support of the United States, was planned to halt
the advance of the forces of progress and of social
justice in that country and in the Latin American
and Caribbean region, and that it constitutes a
manifest example that notions of democracy, human
rights and respect for the law on the part of
certain governments and political sectors in the
region have a plainly utilitarian value.
We call the attention of the governments and
peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean to the
danger posed by the proposition to return the region
to the epoch of coups d’états, with the objective of
once again suffocating the rights of the peoples and
shoring up the interests of the forces of reaction
and imperialism.
We salute the attitude of countries that are
maintaining a position of rejection toward the pro-coup
illegitimate regime in Honduras, in particular those
which have acted in accordance with the positions
adopted and reiterated by the Rio Group, and
coherent with the commitment to democracy, human
rights and respect for the law; against coups
d’état, the trampling of the people, murder,
arbitrary detentions and disappearances. In this
context, we call on the peoples and governments of
Latin America and the Caribbean to prevent the
perpetrators of the military coup of June 28, 2009
from enjoying immunity in their countries.
We express our solidarity with and support for
the peaceful resistance of the Honduran people and
the National Resistance Front. Back the popular
clamor in favor of a constituent political process
that will contribute to stability, security,
progress and democracy in the country. Acknowledge
the firm and valiant attitude of President Manuel
Zelaya. Stress the difficult humanitarian situation
faced by the Honduran people, exacerbated by the
coup d’état and call for the adoption of all
measures possible aimed at alleviating the said
situation, in full implementation of the principle
of solidarity which unites the member countries of
the ALBA-TCP.
We condemn in the most energetic terms the
political and military offensive of the United
States in the Latin American and Caribbean region,
fundamentally manifested in agreements promoted with
countries in the region for the establishment of
military bases.
We ratify that Latin America and the Caribbean
must be a region free of foreign military bases and
reaffirm that it is unacceptable to utilize the
battle against drug trafficking and international
terrorism as a pretext for increasing the U.S.
military presence in the region, and that the real
objective of this presence is control of its
economic resources, domination of markets and the
battle against social changes underway on the part
of progressive governments and forces.
We emphasize that these ends are made evident in
the U.S. Air Force Department document justifying
the funding of the Palanquero Military Base project
and in the U.S. Air Force Department document of May
2009 containing its Military Construction Program
We reiterate the statement in the declaration of
the 7th ALBA-TCP Summit in Cochabamba on October
2009 urging the government of Colombia to reconsider
the installation of military bases established in
the Agreement for Technical Cooperation and Aid in
Defense and Security with the U.S.
We warn that the establishment of such military
bases, in addition to those already existing,
constitutes a real danger for the countries in the
region and the gravest threat to the peace, security
and stability of the Latin America and the Caribbean,
while it equally represents a serious obstacle to
the integrationist propositions of Latin America and
the Caribbean.
We support the just right of the Bolivarian
Republic of Venezuela to place its country’s defense
on alert in the face of the evident risk to its
national security and its people as a consequence of
the military deployment of the United States in the
vicinity of its borders, while we call for the
solidarity of the people and governments of the
region to confront such a grave threat.
We energetically advocate the use of pacific
means, based on dialogue and negotiation, for the
solution of conflicts in our region, whatever their
nature, without the presence of extra-regional
entities, and express our disposition to exercise
our good offices in all cases in order to attain the
said mission.
We energetically reject the statements of the
secretary of state of the United States on December
11, 2009, and reaffirm the right of the countries of
Latin America and the Caribbean, in the exercise of
their self-determination, to grant themselves the
political, economic and social system freely decided
by their peoples. At the same time, we reject the
pretensions of the U.S. government to involve itself
in sovereign foreign policy decisions of the
countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, such
as the region’s links with the Islamic Republic of
Iran. We reiterate with maximum forcefulness that
the exercise of foreign policy is a sovereign right
of all states, on the basis of the principle of
sovereign equality contained in the United Nations
Charter and the government of the United States is
transgressing that principle with statements such as
the one quoted.
We once again reiterate our total rejection of
the economic, commercial and financial blockade
imposed on Cuba during 50 years by the government of
the United States, demand its immediate end and
reaffirm our full solidarity with the Cuban people
and government.
We strongly condemn terrorism in all its forms
and manifestations and, in that context, demand the
immediate and unconditional liberation of the five
Cuban anti-terrorist fighters incarcerated in U.S.
prisons for fighting against that scourge, and as a
result of politically motivated trials plagued with
procedural errors and lacking any legitimacy.
We urgently call on the president of the United
States to make use of his constitutional faculties,
unconditionally release the five heroes and put an
end to this act of injustice which has been
condemned by wide sectors of the international
community.
We affirm our decision to promote actions within
the framework of the Rio Group and the CALC (Latin
American and Caribbean Summit) to form an
exclusively Latin American and Caribbean
organization that will contribute in an outstanding
manner to pro-integration and unity efforts in the
region.
We salute the inclusion of the point "Harmony
with Nature" on the UN General Assembly agenda,
while reiterating our commitment to the Universal
Declaration of Mother Earth Rights and setting the
principal guidelines for establishing harmony with
nature in the 21st century.
We ratify our solidarity with the proposal to
reinstate the ancestral practice of masticating coca
leaves, eliminating its prohibition in international
law and to withdraw coca leaves from the List No. 1
of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs.
We urge the urgent designation of two delegates
per member country to make up the ALBA Bicentenary
Commission before the end of 2010, in order to
fulfill our commitment to a collective commemoration
of the bicentenary of the beginning of the
independence process of our America.
We reiterate the need for the Ministerial Defense of
Nature Committee to draw up an ALBA-TCP
environmental agenda and advance on the development
and implementation of the rights of Mother Earth.
As a result of our deliberations, we have reached
the following agreements:
1. To promote the realization in all the Alliance
countries of a Genetic Psycho-Social Clinical Study
of People with Disabilities, taking into account
experiences accumulated in Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador,
Nicaragua and Venezuela. To promote, on the basis of
its results, and as it becomes possible, the
incorporation of people with disabilities into
activities and work within the productive, economic,
and social and cultural sectors, without
discrimination.
2. To continue consolidating and extending in all
the ALBA countries the training and development of
human resources in the area of public health with an
ideal of social commitment, scientific and technical
quality, and a sense of belonging to their peoples.
In that context, to consolidate the comprehensive
health programs and current training of
comprehensive community doctors.
3. To approve the Grannacional Literacy
and Post-Literacy Action Plan project in order to
consolidate its successes and extend it to the rest
of the countries and peoples of ALBA-TCP.
4. To complete the process of declaring
illiteracy-free territories throughout the countries
of the Alliance and to continue promoting the post-literacy
process as a way of raising the educational level of
our peoples.
5. To approve educative and strategic policy
action plans for the Grannacional ALBA-Education
Project, which contemplate the characteristics,
principles, proposals and content defined in the
Managua and Caracas Agreements (June 2009 and
November 2009, respectively).
6. To systematically extend educational services
in member countries until total coverage is attained,
with the aim of guaranteeing access to universal
primary education and advancing access to secondary
education.
7. To prioritize training in Medicine and
Education in integration and cooperation programs.
8. To accelerate the forming and urgent
activation of prioritized grannacional
enterprises and projects in line with the standards
established for their organization and functioning,
with the aim of them initiating their work with all
urgency.
9. To ratify the continuity of the
Grannacional ALBA Cultural Project and the
strengthening of the Grannacional ALBA
Cultural Fund Enterprise in order to continue
defending the cultural identity and diversity of our
peoples and in favor of cultural development as a
basic tool for the process of constructing Latin
American and Caribbean unity.
10. To continue promoting a historical-cultural
platform sustaining integration among member
countries and to urge the Political Council to work
on the circulation and consolidation of the Martí
Alternative for Our America (ALMA) initiative.
11. To constitute a Science, Technology and
Innovation Network that will facilitate fomenting
capacities for the generation and transfer of
knowledge and technology in key sectors of
sustainable socioeconomic development.
12. To promote projects directed at knowledge
being transformed into new goods and services that
can be jointly utilized by the ALBA-TCP countries
and to promote interaction between I+D centers,
universities and centers of production.
13. To strengthen the coordination and
harmonizing of policies in the sphere of
technological sovereignty, as well as to take
concrete action that will gradually facilitate
populational access to telecommunications services
in the ALBA-TCP member countries. The
Grannacional ALBATEL communications project, the
construction of an underwater fiber-optic cable
between Cuba and Venezuela, the Guardián del ALBA
joint venture for the development of computer
applications and the use of the Simón Bolívar
Satellite should contribute to these objectives.
14. To give maximum support to promoting
technical work in the action plan and regulations
allowing for the implementation in the short term of
the Single Regional Payment Compensation System, the
SUCRE.
15. To approve the Economic Council proposal to
initiate negotiations for the Trade Treaty of the
Peoples at the beginning of 2010, with a mandate to
analyze, among other issues, the Alliance’s process
of integration, the status of bilateral and other
kinds of relations among member countries. Equally,
to determine the objective of the TCP, its
guidelines and negotiating philosophy.
16. To organize the 1st ALBA-TCP Tourism Fair in
the framework of the 5th International Tourism Fair
of Venezuela, from September 28 to October 3, 2010,
as well to instruct the Economic Council to study
the proposal to create an ALBA Tourism Promotion and
Development Study Center and the Training Institute
for Basic Specialties in Tourism.
17. To mandate the Economic Council to install
the ALBA-TCP Industrial and Productive
Complementation Working Group to create the working
platform, its objectives and immediate projection.
18. To approve the Single Regional Payment
Compensation System (SUCRE) and instruct its
transition working group to accelerate the final
details for the system’s implementation at the end
of January 2010.
19. To ratify the impetus to constitute the
grannacional projects and enterprises analyzed by
the Social and Economic Councils, and instruct their
respective coordinators and representatives to
design them. To convene their respective technical
committees to meet in the first quarter of 2010.
20. To approve the Structure and Functioning of
the ALBA-TCP document and the definitions and
attributions of their principal agencies in line
with the decisions adopted by the Alliance starting
from the Maracay Summit and proposals for the
organization and functioning of the grannacional
enterprises and projects.
21. To instruct the Political Council to draft a
proposal on the functioning and organization of the
work of the ALBA-TCP Presidential Council, to be
submitted to heads of state and government for
operative consultation in order to reach a decision
by the next Alliance Summit at the latest.
22. To intensify exchanges within the framework
of international agencies, in particular within the
United Nations, among the ALBA-TCP member countries,
with the objective of contributing to ensure that
the principles guiding the activities of the
Alliance and their political objectives are duly
taken into account in negotiating and discussion
processes that take place within those agencies.
23. To instruct the Political Council to continue
advancing in the institutionality of the Alliance
and in the drafting of standards, procedures and
regulations that will allow for the coherence of all
its agencies.
24. To hold the 9th Summit of Heads of State and
Government of the member countries of the Bolivarian
Alliance for the Peoples of Our America-Trade Treaty
of the Peoples on April 17 to 18, 2010 in the city
of Caracas, Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, in the
framework of the 200th anniversary commemoration of
the beginning of the independence struggle in
Venezuela.
25. To complete the organization of the
respective national chapters of the social movements
with the objective of convening the next ALBA-TCP
Social Movements Council prior to the 9th Summit of
Heads of State and Government on April 19, 2010 in
Venezuela. •
