As a special guest, the Spanish journalist and historian Ignacio Ramonet, specified that in the face of the post-pandemic economic challenges imposed by COVID-19, it is necessary for the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean to re-promote the food sovereignty project and strengthen alliances in terms of health services.

This during the telematic ALBA-TCP conference on post-pandemic economy held this Wednesday.

“It is necessary to establish mutual aid ties in
terms of public services. These countries have had the best results
in Latin America and in the world, they are proof that consolidated,
comfortable public health services help in unprecedented crises like
this one”.

Ramonet also stressed that these nations must unite to demand the
cancellation of the foreign debt and the suspension of unilateral
coercive measures.

Coronavirus times

The journalist and historian explained that the crisis derived
from the COVID-19 pandemic has three times: health time, economic
time, and political and social time.

“In the United States they are already in the third
stage, they have the health crisis, the economic crisis with mass
unemployment and finally the social crisis with this massive
globalized protest. Exactly this is what is being proposed at the
international level.”

Regarding economic time, he explained that there is a supply
crisis because for months the factories were closed in the main axes
of development, that is, there has been no production, and on the
other hand, a demand crisis because thousands of Millions of people
have been quarantined, resulting in a considerable reduction in
quarantine.

With respect to the countries of the south, he explained that the
three main income items have fallen, exports of land, agricultural
subsoil or mining; remittances from migrants working in the affected
development poles and finally tourism.

“Tourism is precisely one of the most affected industries by
this crisis, because there are, at this time, border closings and
immobility in terms of international transport”.

The central objective of the ALBA-TCP conference on the
post-pandemic economy is to comprehensively address the pending
economic issues for the region, taking into account the conjuncture
of COVID-19.