As Well as Integration, ALBA Forging Unity

The recently concluded 5th Summit of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA) created new hopes in the Latin American region. A great deal of information was provided during the conference, which allowed exchanges between Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Haiti. Participating were Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage along with high ranking government officials from the Caribbean and other South American nations. After reflections and analysis, there was no doubt that ALBA has transcended all of the other traditional mechanisms for integration formed to date. As pointed out by President Hugo Chavez, ALBA is more than an entity promoting integration; it is a base of unity which will allow the continent to rise above commercial, national or sectoral considerations, and will overshadow even old styles of thinking accumulated in the minds of people. That is why ALBA is different; it has as the essential goal of creating a large and united homeland. Building that structure -to which more bricks and mortar must be added- implies solidarity, disinterestedness, unreserved support and special attention to unequal levels of national development. This 5th Summit -which paves the way to new goals identified in December of 2004 in Havana by Presidents Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro- established a strategic plan for all that wants to join the struggle. This movement is not restricted to national governments, but promotes the involvement of local authorities and labor organizations willing to work in support of regional unity. For the Caribbean, for centuries ignored in the region, having wide representation at the Venezuelan summit is another example of the hemispheric South - where there are no negative distinction between historic origins, race or culture. Venezuela offered ALBA members Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia, Nicaragua, plus Haiti, a special energy plan in which Caracas assumes half of the oil bill of those nations and establishes a special fund for social development. This was spotlighted as an example of a special gesture of solidarity at a time when oil prices have increased due to scarcity and Washington's war of aggression. That is the way to build the future - through unity.