ALBA-TCP Executive Secretary participates in video conference with Network of Intellectuals in Mexico

In a video conference with the Network of Intellectuals in Defense of Humanity – Mexico Chapter, the Executive Secretary of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America-People’s Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP), Sacha Llorenti, condemned that the COVID-19 pandemic has not sensitized in any way those who apply unilateral coercive measures against Cuba and Venezuela.

On the contrary, Llorenti said that these measures have been stepped up and used as weapons to prevent Cuba and Venezuela from managing the global sanitary crisis.

Llorenti explained that in the case of Venezuela, not only the United States and Europe, but also some countries of the region, have joined aggressions against the South American country.

The ALBA-TCP executive secretary explained that the pandemic has exposed the scope and limitations of the neoliberal model of the capitalist system, speeding up global phenomena such as climate change, technological disruption, inequality, and the precarization of labor and integration.

As an example of this situation, Llorenti referred to how developed countries hoard COVID-19 vaccines as a highly-priced good subjected to the rules of market, «this is the reason why Canada has been able to buy and hoard vaccines for five times the number of its population, » thus affecting supply for countries in the Global South. «Some countries will soon declare herd immunity, while others have not received a single dose of the vaccine, » he said.

The ALBA-TCP representative explained that the pandemic’s effects on the forms of integration is evidenced by the peripheral role played by the United Nations and the World Health Organization, which haven’t been able to play the role they should amid a global sanitary threat. «The global system of common rules has also failed when facing the pandemic, » said Llorenti, who pointed out that the rule of the strongest prevails.

Regarding regional integration, he said that the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) has practically disappeared, and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) breathed new life thanks to Mexico’s leadership as Pro Tempore President. On the contrary, the OAS gained more prominence with the disastrous role played by its Secretary General Luis Almagro, who has been terribly aggressive against countries, even those that are not members of the organization such as Cuba and Venezuela.

ALBA-TCP’s Management

Sacha Llorenti highlighted that the ALBA-TCP is trying to build a much nobler integration model in political, economic and social terms, supporting unity more than integration. This has been achieved, he said, thanks to the convergence of its nine member countries on anti-imperialist, anti-capitalist, anti-colonialist and anti-patriarchal matters.

«By order of the heads of State, we have launched a number of activities in different areas: health, education, communication, agriculture, women’s and gender rights, and climate change, among others, producing concrete results such as the bank of vaccines and a humanitarian fund for five Caribbean Eastern countries to buy vaccines, » Llorenti explained.

The ALBA-TCP executive secretary celebrated that despite a terrible siege, Venezuela and Cuba, founding members of the Alliance, have expressed the solidarity-based spirit of the regional integration bloc. «Venezuela has donated oxygen to Manaus in Brazil. Conviasa has transported vaccines from China to Dominica, and we have addressed as far as possible the situation in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines after the volcano’s eruption. »

Finally, Executive Secretary Llorenti affirmed that, beyond formal and multilateral issues, and in order to make a qualitative leap to extend the ALBA-TCP’s work, he recently convened a meeting with 30 research institutes of the Global South where they proposed to build a post-pandemic agenda for 7 billion people.