Havana, Cuba, March 18, 2024.- The Executive Secretary of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America – People’s Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP) Jorge Arreaza met with Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel and Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez on Monday, to discuss the 2030 Agenda of the regional integration mechanism, in which Venezuela and Cuba are founding members.

At the meeting, the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and President of the Republic of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, addressed the active role to be played by ALBA-TCP in the region, and also congratulated Arreaza for his appointment at the head of the “Our American” Alliance, founded by Commanders Hugo Chávez Frías and Fidel Castro Ruz in December 2004.

The President highlighted that no other bloc in the region has produced as many results in such a short period of time as the Alliance has, particularly in health cooperation, such as Misión Milagro (Eye surgery social program), literacy brigades, Petrocaribe and other programs promoted by its leaders, which have benefited millions of people.

Meanwhile, the Executive Secretary stated “We have to protect ALBA-TCP and reactivate it”.

Arreaza reiterated to the Cuban authorities the solidarity of the bloc against the latest destabilization attempts on the island, instigated by U.S. imperialism, through the use of fake content aimed at encouraging a social uprising.

“It is another destabilization attempt of the U.S. government to not only besiege Cuba with the blockade and new laws, but also, once under siege, to seek to destabilize using toxic social network platforms to trigger an unfounded social outbreak,” warned the ALBA-TCP Executive Secretary.

The presidency of the Cuban nation, through its X account @PresidenciaCuba, welcomed the support communiqué issued by the countries of the bloc, which are all “deeply friendly and in solidarity with Cuba”, so “they felt they had to issue a statement in less than 24 hours, show their solidarity with Cuba and alert the world that these actions are closely linked to imperialism”.

In the communiqué, the members of the Alliance strongly condemned the attempts aimed at undermining Cuba’s internal order, revealing that such actions seek to take advantage of the difficult economic situation faced by the Caribbean nation, worsened by the U.S. blockade.

During the meeting with Arreaza, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said: “we exchanged views on the future of the Alliance’s cooperation programs”.

The construction of the ALBA-TCP 2030 Agenda presents a series of actions in four horizons: economic, political, social and cultural, which seek to give an extraordinary drive to the process of comprehensive consolidation of the bloc by 2030, with high-impact actions proposed within the short and medium term.

A week ago, in order to discuss the 2030 Agenda of the bloc formed by 10 Latin American and Caribbean countries, Secretary Arreaza met with the President of Bolivia, Luis Arce, and his Foreign Minister Celinda Sosa.