Venezuela hosts 19th ALBA-TCP Summit on Bicentennial of Battle of Carabobo

Under the theme “Alliance for Life and Independence,” Caracas hosts on Thursday, June 24, the 19th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America-Peoples’ Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP) on the commemoration of the Bicentennial of the Battle of Carabobo.

The high-level meeting will discuss the regional political situation and the progress made in revitalizing the integration bloc in 2021 in the face of the challenges of the post-pandemic.

In the context of the health crisis, the regional integration bloc created a Humanitarian Fund to establish the ALBA Bank of Vaccines and the Bank of Medicines through financing from the Bank of ALBA.

Among other actions, ALBA-TCP also established a humanitarian air bridge with the help of Venezuelan state airline Conviasa to transport vaccines, medical personnel, medicines and supplies to the benefit of the people.

In 2021, the regional bloc has developed a very busy agenda of virtual meetings to discuss key areas such as health, agriculture, education, women’s and gender issues, and communication and information, and also held the 21st Political Council and an unprecedented meeting of Research Institutes of the Global South.

On December 14, 2020, Bolivian diplomat Sacha Llorenti was appointed as ALBA-TCP Executive Secretary.

ALBA-TCP was created on December 14, 2004, after an agreement endorsed by then Presidents of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, and Cuba, Fidel Castro, in Havana, following an initial proposal made by the Venezuelan president in 2001, when he suggested the regional integration bloc as a response to the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), promoted by the United States and finally rejected by Latin America in Mar del Plata, Argentina, in 2005.

The Alliance was conceived by its founding fathers as a Latin American, Caribbean integration platform, with an emphasis on the social dimension which considers human beings as the foundation and epicenter of integration, based on the values of solidarity, complementarity, justice and cooperation, combining the capacities and strength of its member countries: Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and Grenada.