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Venezuela and Cuba
•
Venezuela is bordered to the north by the Caribbean
Sea and the Dutch Antilles, Aruba, Trinidad and
Tobago, Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St.
Lucia,Martinique, Guadalupe,Dominica, Montserrat,
St. Kitts and Nevis, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto
Rico, and the Dominican Republic. It is bordered to
the south by the Federative Republic of Brazil, to
the east by the Atlantic Ocean and the Republic of
Guyana, and to the west by the Republic of Colombia.
It has a population of 26.5 million inhabitants and
is 912,100 square kilometers in dimension.
Its
capital is Caracas.•
• WE
firmly reject the content and aims of the FTAA and
we share the conviction that the so-called
integration based on neoliberalism which it
represents would consolidate the described scenario,
and would only lead to an even greater disunity
among the Latin American countries, to greater
poverty and despair for the largest sectors of the
populations in our countries, to the privatization
of the region's economies, and to an absolute
subordination to outside dictates.
We
wish to make it clear that, while integration is,
for the Latin American and Caribbean countries, an
essential condition for aspiring to development in
the midst of the increasing formation of large
regional blocs that are occupying commanding
positions in the world economy, only integration
based on cooperation, solidarity and a common will
to advance hand in hand toward higher levels of
development can satisfy the needs and desires of
Latin American and Caribbean countries while
preserving their independence, sovereignty and
identity.
We
are in agreement that the Bolivarian Alternative for
the Americas (ALBA), proposed by President Hugo
Chávez Frías at the 3rd Summit of Heads of State and
Government of the Association of Caribbean States,
which took place on the Island of Margarita in
December 2001, outlines the guiding principles for a
genuine Latin American and Caribbean integration
based on justice; we commit ourselves to work
together to make this a reality.
These considerations were stated by President Fidel
Castro Ruz and the president of the Bolivarian
Republic of Venezuela on December 14, 2004 in
Havana. They are contained in the Joint Declaration
that both leaders signed for the founding of ALBA.
Since then both nations have given impulse to this
profoundly significant historic initiative, thus
turning a new page in the evolution of Latin America
and the Caribbean and crystallizing the dreams of
Bolívar and Martí. Five years after that momentous
event, it has to be said that one can talk of an
America before and after that December 14.
In
this 2009 we are celebrating five years of
victories, with the commitment that the Alliance,
founded precisely 10 years after the leader of the
Bolivarian Revolution's first visit to Havana, will
never know defeat.
•
•
Cuba is the largest island in the Caribbean. It is
located to the south of Florida, to the north of
Jamaica, to the east of the Yucatán peninsula, and
to the west of the Bahamas and Española (Dominican
Republic and Haiti). The Republic of Cuba also
includes more than 3,715 islands and cays, one of
which, the Isle of Youth, is notable for its size.
Cuba has a population of 11.3 million inhabitants
and a land surface of 110,800 square kilometers.
Havana is its capital. •
ECUADOR
•
Ecuador also joined ALBA on June 24, 2009, just at
the moment when this integration model changed the
concept of alternative for that of alliance. This
nation is the fifth country in the regional bloc to
declare itself free of illiteracy, which it achieved
in
August of this year. "ALBA is a socialist project…It
is energy, political, and territorial integration
based on relations of sisterhood," Correa affirmed
on that day.
Referring to integration mechanism, he also
stated, "We are going to have great benefits such as
a united position before multilateral agencies which
have been very detrimental for Latin America." In
reference to ALBA projects, he affirmed: "We cannot
go more slowly than the rest…the revolution is now.
It is not tomorrow. It is now." Ecuador is located
in northeast South America between Colombia and
Peru. It is bordered by the Pacific Ocean. It is
283,600 square kilometers in size and has 13,200,000
inhabitants.
Ecuador's capital is Quito. •
BOLIVIA
•
Bolivia joined ALBA on April 29, 2006 during an
event celebrated in Havana, making it the third
country to embrace the initiative.
President Evo Morales stated: "true
integration between Latin American and Caribbean
countries is an essential condition for sustainable
development, security, and food sovereignty, in
order to satisfy the needs of our people. Only
united action from Latin American and Caribbean
countries based on the principles of cooperation,
complementation, mutual support, and solidarity will
allow us to preserve our independence, sovereignty,
and identity, as well as successfully confront the
trend toward unilateralism and hegemonic intentions,
strengthened by a People's Trade Treaty." Bolivia
has also eradicated illiteracy as a result of its
inclusion in ALBA. The country is located in South
America, bordered by Brazil to the north and east,
by Paraguay to the southeast, by Argentina to the
south, and by Chile and Peru to the west. It is
landlocked, having lost its access to the ocean
during the War of the Pacific. It has a population
of 9.4 million inhabitants and covers 1,100,000
square kilometers.
The
capital city is La Paz. •
ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA
•
Antigua and Barbuda joined ALBA on July 24, 2009
after Prime Minister Winston Baldwin Spencer read
out the nation's declaration of adhesion, in which
he stated: "Since its creation in December 2004,
ALBA has had a positive effect on the lives of
millions of citizens and residents in participating
countries, and in fact, in the whole region.
Projects conceptualized and carried out through ALBA
and the associated PETROCARIBE Agreement have
changed lives and injected life, and have helped
reduce poverty, illiteracy, morbidity and mortality
in various countries, Antigua and Barbuda being one
of them. Among other things, my country has directly
benefited from the Mission Miracle." Antigua and
Barbuda has 63,300 inhabitants and a land surface of
442 square kilometers. Its capital is St. John's.
The country is situated in the eastern Caribbean
Sea, to the east of St. Kitts and Nevis and to the
north of Guadalupe. It includes the leeward islands
of Antigua and Barbuda to the north and islet of
Redonda to the southeast.
•
NICARAGUA
•
Nicaragua became the fourth ALBA member after
joining on January 11, 2007. The formal adhesion to
the initiative was the first official act of
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega after he assumed
the presidency the day before. "ALBA and solidarity
move quickly. We don't have to wait to negotiate
with entities," Ortega said that January 11. He
added that "the unity and integration of the peoples
of Latin America and the Caribbean will allow us to
incorporate our region into the world in a position
that will guarantee our right to sustainable
development and the unrestricted exercise of
national sovereignty in the face of the hegemonic
plans of the United States." Today the country is
illiteracy-free thanks to the ALBA programs.
Nicaragua is located in Central America. It borders
Honduras to the north, Costa Rica to the south, the
Pacific Ocean to the west, and the Caribbean Sea to
the east. It has 5.4 million inhabitants and a land
mass of 130,000 square kilometers.
The
capital city is Managua. •
HONDURAS
•
Honduras joined ALBA on August 26, 2008, with an
event celebrated in its capital, Tegucigalpa. During
the ceremony, President José Manuel Zelaya stated
that, "ALBA is a social solidarity project among
countries in the Americas that is attempting, in a
united fashion, to resolve the problems encountered
by these communities." The step was taken in a
country where the government of a right-center
party, which, having taken a position in favor of
the people, had stirred the ire of the oligarchy and
the military leaders and resulted in a coup d'état
on June 28, 2009. Honduras is located in Central
America. To the north it is bordered by the
Caribbean Sea. It has access to the Pacific Ocean
through the Golf of Fonseca to the south and to the
Atlantic Ocean by the north coast. It borders
Guatemala to the northeast, El Salvador to the
south, and Nicaragua to the southeast. Its
population is 7.3 million inhabitants and has a land
mass of 112,100 square kilometers.
•
DOMINICA
•
ALBA's fundamental concepts include solidarity,
economic complementation, fair trade, integral
cooperation and utmost respect for sovereignty. The
peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean are fully
experiencing solidarity. This is evident in programs
such as Operation Miracle, which has helped millions
of poor citizens recover their sight; citizens in
Bolivia, Haiti, and Nicaragua have also benefited
from educational literacy programs developed by Cuba
and Venezuela, without forgetting the alimentary
programs guaranteeing the nourishment of children
and the elderly," stated Prime Minister Roosevelt
Skerrit of the Commonwealth of Dominica. Dominica
joined ALBA on January 26, 2008. Dominica is located
between the Caribbean Sea and North Atlantic,
halfway between Puerto Rico and Trinidad and Tobago.
It is 750 square kilometers in size and has a
population of 79,000 inhabitants.
Its
capital is Roseau. •
ST. VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES
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ALBA arose as a possibility for our nations to
retake a road of progress, in contrast to the
options offered by the global hegemonic power
centers, projects
supported by economic integration plans that
provoked disasters in Latin America during the 1980s
and 90s," Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves stated
during his country's declaration of adhesion to ALBA
on June 24, 2009. St. Vincent and the Grenadines is
389 square kilometers in size and has a population
of 121,000 inhabitants. Its capital is Kingstown. It
forms part of the lesser Antilles chain and is
located to the north of Venezuela and the island of
Grenada in the Caribbean Sea.
•
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