Cuba and Venezuela Promote Alternative Latin American Pact

[Minstrel Boy]

Cuba and Venezuela Promote Alternative Latin American Pact

Perodico 26 (one hour ago)

Cuban and Venezuelan officials spoke out in Santiago, Chile over the weekend in favor of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA, in Spanish) as an option to the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA).

At an activity sponsored by the Chilean Communist Party, Cuban ambassador to Santiago, Alfonso Fraga, labeled the FTAA proposed by the US government as "death's embrace." He contrasted it with the "friendly embrace of solidarity and integration," which is the main goal of the ALBA initiative of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

The Cuban diplomat said the US plan is a virtual takeover rather than an association, and seeks to make Latin America into a raw material supplier and product assembly center to evade taxes, reduce wages and avoid health and environmental regulations within its territory, Trabajadores weekly newspaper reported on Monday.

Fraga pointed out that the ALBA initiative that takes its name from the 19th century South American liberator Simon Bolivar, goes beyond an economic agreement since it focuses on fighting poverty and social exclusion through viable trade and investment mechanisms. Victor Delgado, Venezuelan ambassador to Chile, emphasized that the project seeks to recover the historical roots of Latin American nations, based on cooperation and solidarity, while prioritizing humankind over the market.
http://www.periodico26.cu/english_new/cuba/alba110105.htm

[WMliberal]

1. Me likey. It's like a Latin American Third Way.

[Robbien]

2. This is a smart move. Instead of just advising against FTAA

they are offering an alternative.

South America is just making steps to get out from under the world bank restrictive policies. FTAA would be just another straight jacket for their economy.

[Bono71]

5. Agree with that....much better strategy. n/t

[Judi Lynn]

3. Some points worth pondering from the IHT.....

Latin America is no joke
Stanley A. Weiss International Herald Tribune

(snip)
Indeed, always bound more by geography than ideology, America and its Latin neighbors are drifting apart. As Washington moves to the right, the rest of the hemisphere is moving to the left. The presidents of Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Venezuela and Ecuador were all elected by challenging Washington-driven free market reforms that have done little to reduce the region's endemic poverty.
(snip)
.
Washington can no longer afford to neglect Latin American countries like unwanted stepchildren. The United States needs the region - and not just for professional baseball stars. Limited initiatives like free trade agreements with Chile, Central America and the Andean countries are positive steps, but pale beside the huge benefits of a hemisphere-wide pact.
.
It's in Washington's interest to treat its southern neighbors as the indispensable partners they are. Otherwise, it will be Latin America that has the last laugh.
.
(Stanley A. Weiss is chairman of Business Executives for National Security, a nonpartisan organization based in Washington.)
.(snip)http://www.iht.com/articles/2004/12/26/opinion/edweiss.html

[sadiesworld]

4. The US has traditionally treated Latin American countries...

with "benign neglect"?! That's rich.

[Robbien]

6. Yes, Latin America wishes the US would treat them with benign neglect

Much better than the US sending down NED and mercs stirring up trouble while foreign corporates rob them of their natural resources.

[Mika]

9. Or how about the "as the indispensable partners they are" crap?

As soon as a nation is told that they are "the indispensable partners they are" by the US (especially if it is the Bushco Nazis saying it), they better watch the fuck out!

[MasonJar]

7. I would hardly call what we did under Reagan/Bush benign. It

was a cancer on the Latin American people. (That is those who were fortunate to survive.) They deserve to have their own way in their own regions without propping up Bush contributors. Has anyone else noticed that since Bush became pResident other countries, even whole continents are deciding not to follow our lead? I love it that they want to save their environment; everyone in the world except brainwashed US citizens know how disastrous the Stump is.

[Robbien]

8. And they say when the climate changes

There is no debate on whether global warming exists, only discussion of what the effects will be and how to adapt.