The ministers and high-level authorities on the Environment of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America – Peoples’ Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP) held a virtual meeting on Wednesday to debate proposals and actions to fight climate change.

The meeting was headed by the ALBA-TCP Executive Secretary SachaLlorenti, who pointed out that the “environmental crisis is the consequence of the unsustainable production patterns of developed countries,” hence the importance of strengthening Eco-socialism as a method based on the respect for the environment and the Pachamama.

Llorenti explained that the meeting enabled to define a roadmap to face the challenges ahead of the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference (COP26), to be held from October 31^st to November 12^thin Glasgow, Scotland.

The ALBA-TCP Executive Secretary stressed the need of “creating an ALBA-TCP Youth and Climate Change Group to coordinate joint actions on priority environmental issues towards the Youth Conference on Climate Change.”

Venezuela’s People’s Power Minister for Eco-socialism, Josué Alejandro Lorca, along with the Minister for Water Management, Evelyn Vásquez, reaffirmed Venezuela’s will to share its experience in forest fire management with the ALBA-TCP countries.

Regarding the warning issued by scientists at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) about the upcoming scenario mankind will have to face due to the increase in temperature and the loss of biological diversity, Lorca stressed the importance of a joint agenda of actions that the Alliance will take to face environmental challenges.

Cuba’s Minister of Science, Technology and the Environment, Elba Pérez, highlighted that her country pleads for a greater use of science and innovation in environmental management.

Likewise, Pérez stressed the need of implementing new policies to counter climate change.

Also, Bolivia’s Minister of the Environment and Water, Juan Santos Cruz, said that “the climate crisis is one of the great challenges of our times; it threatens life on the planet as a consequence of the capitalist system.”

Santos Cruz denounced that developed countries are transferring the burden of the climate crisis to developing countries; rejected the market’s and the green economy’s vision, and stated that Bolivia is willing to convene a third Conference of the Peoples – with the ALBA-TCP support – to discuss the proposal towards the COP26.

The Bolivian minister also urged to fulfill promises to finance and promote the developing countries’ efforts.

“Our peoples are tired of hypocrisy regarding the Mother Earth,  unfulfilled promises (…) ALBA-TCP is a mechanism that can guide the Paris Agreement,” said Cruz.

Javier Gutiérrez, Nicaragua’s Minister of the Environment, pointed out that the current context is critical since, in addition to the climate crisis, the pandemic and the illegal implementation of unilateral coercive measures undermine efforts against climate change.

In this regard, Gutiérrez stressed “it is necessary to reaffirm the mandates of the “Reencuentro con la Pachamama” Summit, defend climate justice and reparation and demand the eradication of unilateral coercive measures.”

The ALBA-TCP Meeting of Ministers and High-level Authorities on the Environment was also attended by representatives from Dominica, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Antigua and Barbuda. The representatives of the ALBA-TCP member countries agreed to create a technical team and spaces for the exchange of environmental scholars and experts to consolidate a proposaltowards COP26.

The Heads of State and Government and Heads of Delegations of the member countries of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America – Peoples’ Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP) reiterated their commitment to strengthen the integration and unity of our peoples as the founding ideology of Commanders Hugo Chávez and Fidel Castro.

At the 19^th ALBA-TCP Summit, held in Caracas, Venezuela’s capital city, the ALBA-TCP heads of State and Government and heads of Delegations reaffirmed their will to face the attempts of imperialist domination and the growing threats to regional peace and stability; with multilateralism and in accordance with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and International Law.

Likewise, they highlighted the need to strengthen the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) as a genuine mechanism for political agreement, and they welcomed “the relationship between ALBA-TCP and the UN system, CELAC, CARICOM, ACS, SICA, African Union, Arab League, SELA, ECLAC, Eurasian Economic Community, ECOWAS, under the principles of respect and non-intervention in internal affairs, in order to guarantee greater equity and a greater commitment to social and economic policies.”

Furthermore, they insisted on the need for urgent universal vaccination against COVID-19 as well as to guarantee a prompt, equitable, supportive, non-discriminatory and affordable distribution of vaccines and medical supplies and equipment to protect all.

” We recognize the efforts of the COVAX global collaborative alliance under the auspices of WHO,” read the document, which also highlights “the implementation of the ALBA-TCP Vaccine Bank, agreed at the 18th ALBA-TCP Summit of Heads of State and Government, as well as the Medicines Bank, to contribute to improving access to medical supplies, rapid tests and PCR tests, for the benefit of all the countries of the Alliance.”

Under the theme “Alliance for Life and Independence,” the ALBA-TCP heads of State and Government and heads of Delegations strongly rejected the imposition of unilateral coercive measures which violate international law and the UN Charter.

“We condemn the intensification of such measures by the government of the United States of America against countries of the Alliance whose impacts become more severe and cruel in the context of the pandemic,” reads the Declaration.

The document also highlights the activities carried out to reactivate ALBA -TCP as a fighting mechanism for peace, democracy, stability and the welfare of the peoples of Our America. In this regard, the regional integration bloc committed to “fostering the development of the ALBA-Petrocaribe Complementary Economic Zone as a true model of productive and technological development based on the values of the Alliance and the principles of the Peoples’ Trade Treaty.”

The principles of solidarity and reciprocity are key to the freedom of Latin America and the Caribbean, stressed Antigua and Barbuda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Immigration, Everly Chet Greene.

“With coordination, we can achieve common goals. Let’s be committed to the dreams and aspirations of the peoples,” said Chet Green, who urged the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America-Peoples’ Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP) to promote the value chains and strengthening of businesses in the face of the COVID-19’s devastating effects.

On the commemoration of the Bicentennial of the Battle of Carabobo, on June 24, he underlined that liberation continues today, and highlighted Latin America’s and the Caribbean’s efforts in the defense of their sovereignty and self-determination.

Foreign Minister Chet Green stressed that “the path of freedom is in line with the Charter of the United Nations;” therefore, he urged to “face obstacles with the same determination and resilience” of Liberator Simón Bolívar’s in the Battle of Carabobo 200 years ago.

“The fight for freedom continues, and like Bolívar, we must continue on the path of freedom,” said Chet Green, who highlighted that Carabobo did not only become a symbol of freedom to Venezuela, but to all the Latin American and Caribbean peoples.

A conspiracy maneuver, orchestrated by “those who vindicate and applaud the United States,” is underway to prevent the integration of free, sovereign nations, denounced on Thursday Venezuela’s President Maduro.

At the 19^th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America-Peoples’ Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP), Maduro said that this conspiracy is trying to stop the consolidation of a plurinational bloc “that can walk with a common project of coexistence, union and support.”

In this regard, the Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Dominica, Roosevelt Skerrit, rejected the foreign financing of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to topple democratically elected governments in Latin America and the Caribbean.

“We must not lose sight of those who do not want us to be united. What’s happening in all of our countries is that they’re setting up NGOs and millions of dollars have been funding NGOs in an attempt to displace left governments […] We have to oppose them because they are not friends of the peoples of our region,” he stressed.

On behalf of Dominica, Skerrit affirmed that no organization or intellectual center of power will deviate them from the commitment to regional unity, complementarity and solidarity of ALBA-TCP.

“We have a fight in our hands. It’s important to remain united and alert,” said Skerrit, who highlighted that independence “should be never compromised in any negotiation.”

Dominica’s prime minister expressed his support to Cuba and Venezuela in the face of the U.S. economic, financial, commercial persecution. Likewise, he reiterated his commitment to the Venezuelan Government to further the ideals of unity of Liberator Simón Bolívar.

“In Dominica, you have a solid friend, a solid ally. We will not be moved by any power that want to change our commitment to ALBA and to the principles of integration,” said Prime Minister Skerrit to President Nicolás Maduro.

Grenada’s Minister of Agriculture, Lands and Forestry Peter David rejected the media campaign against Venezuela by saying “the media seek to discredit the country with stories about food shortages, but they are lies.”

“Only our integration will let us dismantle this and other campaigns,” he said.

In his statement at the 19^th of Heads of State and Government of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA-TCP), David highlighted that amid the COVID-19 pandemic, “Grenada has been fortunate. Currently, we have no active cases, but we did not achieve all of this on our own. We received assistance from Venezuela with rapid tests. The government and people of Cuba help us by sending us personnel and doctors. The Bank of ALBA has also has also provided assistance with vaccines.”

In this vein, he informed the decision of Grenada’s Government to join the Bank of ALBA as “our people has been benefited with a new financial architecture, and we in Grenada will join it.”

Minister David also congratulated the Venezuelan people for the commemoration of the 200 years of the Battle of Carabobo, and reiterated Grenada’s commitment to ALBA-TCP.

“The vision of Fidel and Chávez continues giving results to our people. We join Cuba in its fight for integration,” concluded David.

“The Latin American and Caribbean peoples cannot let themselves be manipulated. We have to be steadfast in our position to achieve the region’s integration,” said Ralph Gonsalves, prime minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines in his statement at the 19^th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Peoples of Our America-Peoples’ Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP).

At the Miraflores Presidential Palace, Gonsalves described the role of ALBA-TCP as extraordinary.

“It is an integration movement of the highest quality benefiting the free and independent people across the Caribbean and Latin American civilization, and we cannot let societies be turned into laboratories,” he remarked.

Likewise, he pointed out the ALBA-TCP’s goal is the freedom of men and women. “That’s what the Battle of Carabobo was about. Many of us think that 200 years is a long time in the evolution of human civilization, but it’s not like that. We have achieved progress for over 70,000 years.”

In this vein, Gonsalves congratulated the Venezuelan people for the “200^th anniversary of this epic confrontation. Two hundred years later, we are still fighting to consolidate and even extend our gains of freedom, independence, sovereignty and dignity.”

In this context, the Vincentian prime minister rejected the powerful governments’ meddling that seeks “to change people’s mind, and they want to get us away from collective action, and believe we have no sense of solidarity, because that is the way that imperialism wishes to keep us in subjection, to keep us atomized.”

Gonsalves said the regional integration bloc’s member countries have to make sure they are not possessed by a “brightness which blinds, but a brightness which illuminates, and the illumination can only come through solidarity and collective actions. That is why we are in ALBA-TCP. This integration movement is a very remarkable one […] in it we dissolve our individual strengths and weaknesses into a whole.”

“Only the future is ours to decipher.  We are committed to the will of the people,” said Gonsalves.

“Unity will bury the Organization of American States (OAS). Only then we’ll be able to say: Now we are free and independent!” said Nicaragua’s President Daniel Ortega in his virtual statement at the 19^th Summit of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America-Peoples’ Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP)

From Managua, and on the commemoration of the Bicentennial of the Battle of Carabobo, the Nicaraguan president said that the OAS “organized the invasion against the Dominican Republic. We cannot forget that […] The empire is threatening to invade Cuba and Nicaragua. That won’t happen.”

Ortega highlighted that after 200 years, “we’re still fighting for a second and definitive independence, and despite our differences, the integration of the peoples is necessary to consolidate revolutionary processes. That’s where Fidel and Chávez stand out.”

In this context, Ortega recalled that the Battle of Carabobo was decisive as a strategic, lethal blow against the domination structure of the Spanish empire, “which practiced slavery, imported slaves and annihilated the indigenous population.”

The Nicaraguan president also underlined that Spain exerted its power “over the lives of indigenous families to try to erase their culture from history.”

President Ortega stressed that thanks to Bolívar’s liberating force, “the countrymen and women who accompanied him rose up and opened the path for independence, posing a new challenge in history.”

Ortega also highlighted that after Nicaragua joined ALBA-TCP, “a new path was opened and it paved the way for the creation of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC). ALBA is the core to strengthen CELAC and defend our peoples from imperialist attacks.”

In that same vein, Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro rejected the “brutal campaign against Nicaragua for doing justice. The transnational, right-wing media corporations attack Nicaragua because they can’t bear to be touched. Nicaragua and its truth are like a sword that cuts time and moves forward with democracy.”

At the 19^th ALBA-TCP Summit of Heads of State and Government, the President of the Plurinational State of Bolivia, Luis Alberto Arce, said that the Bicentennial of the Battle of Carabobo is an important date to Venezuela and the peoples of America, where Bolívar’s genius gave us all the glory of the Great Colombia.

Arce affirmed they are currently working so that neither in Bolivia, nor anywhere else in the region, coups d’état and anti-democratic and neoliberal methods be repeated.

“We have resumed the path of the people, and we join liberating victories so that the will of the great, free and sovereign Homeland is respected. It’s a moral imperative of our history,” said Arce.

The Bolivian president apologized for the abuses and violations of rights against the diplomatic missions of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuelan and the Republic of Cuba by the de facto government that preceded him.

President Arce affirmed that the Bolivian people has always recognized Venezuela’s and Cuba’s support in region regarding the unwavering desire for the freedom and sovereignty of the peoples and the popular will at the ballot box.

Arce added that they have resumed Bolivia’s economic, social, collective model by reducing poverty and working for the memory, truth and justice so that illegal coup-mongering forms of State do not occur again in the region.

Finally, Arce pointed out that they celebrate the Great Homeland and the Alliance for life and independence on the commemoration of the Bicentennial of the Battle of Carabobo.

The Foreign Minister of the Republic of Cuba, Bruno Rodríguez, thanked the member states of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America-Peoples’ Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP) for their support for the Cuban resolution against the U.S. blockade, and extended his gratitude to the Bicentennial Congress of the Peoples for their solidarity with Cuba.

The Cuban diplomat highlighted the approval by absolute majority of the resolution last Wednesday at the United Nations General Assembly demanding the end of the blockade imposed by the United States against Cuba over 60 years ago.

The UN support was shown with 184 votes in favor out of 193 member nations to unanimously reject the U.S. commercial blockade against the Republic of Cuba. The resolution demands the U.S. empire to lift the economic sanctions against the Caribbean island.

The vote for lifting the blockade on Cuba has been held annually since 1992, with the exception of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite this request, the U.S. government has not lifted the embargo.

The U.S. economic blockade has caused catastrophic damage to the Cuban population’s human rights, and it has violated international law for decades.

During Donald Trump’s administration, at least 242 unilateral coercive measures were imposed, and Joe Biden’s government has kept them intact. These measures have caused losses amounting to more than $9.1 billion.

Likewise, Foreign Minister Rodríguez thanked the opportunity given to Cuba to attend the 19^th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America-Peoples’ Trade Treaty, which was “inspired by Liberator Simón Bolívar and forged by Commander Chávez and under the leadership of President Nicolás Maduro.”

In his statement, Rodríguez referred to the failure of the actions taken by the United States against the Latin American and Caribbean people amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Latin America and the Caribbean suffer a serious impact. There is an economic war against Venezuela, and unilateral coercive measures against Nicaragua,” said the Cuban foreign minister.

The Cuban diplomat said the Republic of Cuba rejects these actions against the Latin American people. “We have the firm will to build a sovereign, independent, socialist, democratic, prosperous and sustainable nation. That’s what the U.S. empire wants to annihilate.”

“If the U.S. government had an iota of interest in human rights, in Cuba or in our region, it would put an end to the criminal economic blockade that has tried to cause hunger, malnutrition, diseases, misery and death to the Cuban people for over 60 years,” said Foreign Minister Rodríguez.

“Comrade President Nicolás Maduro, brothers and sisters, you can count on Cuba to be on the front line in this battle for life, peace and justice,” he said.

President Nicolás Maduro participates in the 19^th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America-Peoples’ Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP), held in Venezuela on the commemoration of the Bicentennial of the Battle of Carabobo.

The meeting will serve to discuss the regional situation and the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, and to strengthen the integration of the peoples of Our America.

“On June 24, on the commemoration of the Battle of Carabobo, the 19^th ALBA-TCP Summit of Heads of State and Government will be held. Ours is an alliance for life and independence,” stressed Executive Secretary Sacha Llorenti.

At the 18^th ALBA-TCP Summit, held virtually on December 14, 2020, the member countries reaffirmed their desire for integration, and approved a Post-pandemic Working Plan and the reactivation of ALBA-TCP councils to move forward with a concrete agenda of actions.

Likewise, the heads of State and Government proposed the creation of a Bank of Vaccines to ensure immunization of the region’s people against COVID-19 as a mechanism to mitigate the monopoly exercised by a reduced group of governments.

ALBA-TCP aims at the consolidation of fraternal relations with the Latin American and Caribbean people on the basis of independence, sovereignty and self-determination.