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.

The Executive Secretary of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America-People’s Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP), Sacha Llorenti, said the elections to choose 500 members to sit in the Chamber of Deputies, 15 governors and thousands of local authorities in Mexico have an important value for Latin America and the Caribbean.

The head of the regional integration bloc participated as an international observer in the Mexican elections on Sunday, June 6, «to collect experience in this historic election, one of the most important, » he said.

In his visits to polling centers, Executive Secretary Llorenti wished a successful election day in the country. «Let it be a democratic party and let the will of the Mexican people and institutions be respected. »

«ALBA-TCP sends its fraternal regards to Mexico, » said Llorenti, who has followed a tight, busy agenda in the Latin American country on an official visit to accompany the elections.

During his visit, he held a series of meetings with important Mexican authorities and the ambassadors from Bolivia, Nicaragua and Iran.

The ruling party Movimiento Regeneración Nacional (Morena) and it allies are likely to win 9 out of the 15 governorships in dispute in the elections held on Sunday, according to official preliminary results released on Monday.

According to the Preliminary Electoral Result Program (PREP) of the National Electoral Institute (INE), Morena and its allied parties have a commanding lead in the following states: Baja California, where Marina del Pilar leads with 48.38% of the valid votes; and Baja California Sur, where Manuel Castro leads with 46.63%.

On an official visit to the United Mexican States, the Executive Secretary of the Bolivarian Alliance of the Peoples for Our America-People’s Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP), Sacha Llorenti, held a series of meetings with important authorities from Mexico. Bolivia, Nicaragua and Iran.

After his arrival in Mexico to accompany the forthcoming elections, the head of the regional integration bloc kicked off his tight agenda with a meeting with Efraín Guadarrama, Mexico’s national coordinator to the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC),  to discuss the challenges of the Latin American and Caribbean people’s integration and the work carried out by Mexico as President of CELAC.

I held a meeting with @efrain_gp, National Coordinator of Mexico to the @PPT_CELAC.

We discussed the challenges of Latin American and Caribbean integration.  We extended our congratulations for the great work Mexico is doing in the presidency of CELAC. pic.twitter.com/lDwfetTAOm

— Sacha Llorenti (@SachaLlorenti) June 3, 2021

Likewise, Executive Secretary Llorenti explained on his Twitter account @SachaLlorenti that he met with the Ambassador of Venezuela to Mexico, Francisco Arias Cárdenas; the Ambassador of the Plurinational State of Bolivia to the United Nations, Diego Pary Rodríguez; and the Ambassador of Bolivia to Mexico, José Crespo; as well as the ambassadors of Iran and Nicaragua to Mexico.

«We talked about the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America-People’s Trade Treaty, the legacy of Commanders Fidel and Chávez, and the challenges of our generation, » he twitted.

Today we shared experiences with @PanchoArias2012, @DiegoPary, @moncho_bolivia, ambassadors from Iran & Nicaragua accredited to Mexico, and other comrades.

We talked about the @ALBATCP, the legacy of Commanders Fidel & Chávez & the challenges of our generation. pic.twitter.com/Md37nytcGd

— Sacha Llorenti (@SachaLlorenti) June 4, 2021

Later, the ALBA-TCP Executive Secretary held a meeting with social activist Citlali Hernández to discuss regional issues and the bloc’s initiative to join efforts and accompany the fight of our peoples.

These meetings also served to assess the Alliance’s accompaniment in the last 16 years and discuss issues such as the ALBA-TCP’s progress in the fight against the pandemic and the need of a Bank of Vaccines for the member countries of the regional integration bloc, an initiative launched at the 18^th ALBA-TCP Virtual Summit, held in December 2020, against the inequality, control and appropriation of COVID-19 vaccines.

The ALBA-TCP executive secretary’s visit to Mexico takes place ahead of the forthcoming local elections, to be held on June 6, to choose over 21,300 elective offices, including 500 deputies to sit in the Chamber of Deputies and 15 governorships.

The aggressions against some member countries of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America-People’s Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP), as well as illegal invasions in Iraq, Libya or Syria, are accompanied by the mass media that try «to make oppressors victims, » complained on Monday the Executive Secretary of this regional integration bloc, Sacha Llorenti.

«Ours is a fight for independence, sovereignty to build our own destiny in freedom; therefore, ours is a fight for the defense of truth, » stressed Llorenti at a virtual meeting with the ALBA-TCP presidents of public TV stations and media.

On the basis of these principles, the ALBA-TCP executive secretary said that joining efforts in this regard is not only fit, it is also a need.

In his statement, and paraphrasing revolutionary leader Fidel Castro as he reflected on the importance of the battle of ideas, Llorenti said that ALBA-TCP is a huge «revolutionary and moral» trench of ideas.

«In this battle of ideas, of course, the role of our media is not only important, but also essential, » he stressed.

In his speech, Llorenti quoted a phase by legendary U.S activist Malcom X when he said: «The media’s the most powerful entity on earth.  They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that’s power. Because they control the minds of the masses. »

Joint Actions

Executive Secretary Llorenti celebrated the meeting of the ALBA-TCP presidents of public TV stations and media, in compliance with the mandate of the Meeting of High-Ranking Communication and Information Authorities, whose goal was to establish cooperation in and exchange of information, as well as coordinate and reach consensus on communication actions.

The ALBA-TCP authorities and representatives moved forward in April with the construction of a political-communication roadmap to strengthen the international presence and voice of the regional bloc, improving its communication policy to a new level.

On Monday’s Telesur TV program Conexión Global (Global Connection), the Executive Secretary of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA-TCP), Sacha Llorenti, expressed his concern about the violence unleashed in Colombia since April 28 and the excessive use of force of Colombian security agents.

In the interview, Llorenti pointed out that, in accordance with the principles of the UN Charter and International Right, the ALBA member countries issued a statement to strongly condemn violence and urge to meet demands through dialogue and negotiation.

«The statement reads that the use of violence does not solve the structural causes of situations of social injustice,» said Llorenti, who also condemned the use of the same script accusing countries such as Venezuela and Cuba of being responsible for protests as an attempt to «divert the attention from what is really happening and ignore the structural causes of a neoliberal policy fueled by US military bases  in Colombia.»

Regarding the suspension of talks between Iván Duque’s Government and the National Strike Committee (CNP in Spanish), the ALBA-TCP executive secretary said that the only way out to solve this situation is dialogue and negotiation, «addressing the structural causes and ensuring the right to life. »

Application of colonialist logic in the 21^st century

«We are witnessing a disastrous chapter of aggression against the Palestinian people and the failure of the international community, international right and the United Nations, » stressed Llorenti when asked about the escalation of violence against Palestine by Israeli forces.

Llorenti highlighted we should not talk about an «Israeli-Palestinian Conflict» as there is no conflict, war or an Israeli defense policy, but a systematic application of colonization, expulsion of Palestinians from their territory, and a systematic, generalized violation of International Right. »

«We are talking about the application of a colonialist logic in the 21^st century, supported by the world’s biggest military power known by humankind, » he said in reference to the United States.

Likewise, he urged the international community to enforce the countless resolutions of the UN Security Council on an independent, sovereign Palestinian State with pre-1967 international borders and East Jerusalem as its capital city.

«May the United Nations assume its responsibility. This is a new chapter in the long history of abuses against Palestine, » said the ALBA-TCP executive secretary.

The Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America – People’s Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP) strongly condemns the criminal Israeli military aggressions against the Palestinian people causing at least the death of 48 civilians, including children and more than 300 wounded as a result of Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem; the violence triggered by the Israeli authorities in the middle of Ramadan and the threat of evictions of Palestinian families in the East of the Holy City.

ALBA-TCP also condemns and regrets the death of Israeli civilians.

ALBA-TCP hereby reaffirms its support for the sovereignty, independence and self-determination of the Palestinian people and calls on those who perpetuate the occupation to cease their actions, to respect international law and the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations.

The Alliance demands the enforcement of the relevant resolutions
of the United Nations (UN) and reiterates that the only solution acceptable to the international community is the two-State solution, based on the existing borders prior to 1967 and with East Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Palestine.

The Alliance conveys its sympathy to the victims and relatives affected by the attacks, condemns this new wave of violence and – based on its deep vocation for peace – urges the United Nations to adopt urgent measures in order to promote a peaceful, comprehensive, fair and lasting solution.

Caracas, May 12th 202

Minister of People’s Power for Foreign Affairs Jorge Arreaza proposed on Monday the creation of a critical research network to being forward proposals and documents for the decision-making of governments and popular movements at a meeting of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America-People’s Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP) with Research Institutes of the Global South.

The Venezuelan foreign minister explained that research done by this network would be handed to presidents of governments or groups that get organized for social protest in bother countries or that have the possibility of achieving political power, and stressed that this research must be aimed at decision-making.

“It’s not enough to think and reflect. We have to take actions,” he said.

The head of the Bolivarian diplomacy said that governments and peoples expect thinkers to be really structured and help them get organized to draw up, plan and execute these policies.

Arreaza highlighted that “we need critical human beings, capable of observing and transforming their reality,” and said that the battle of ideas is the preferable scenario of the struggle waged in the world, because thanks to them, it is possible for “our projects to win by the people’s will.”

Foreign Minister Arreaza, a researcher at the Samuel Robinson Institute, pointed out it is important to think as a whole, in a coordinated fashion, and visualize a post-capitalist world where values such as humanity, the Mother Earth, solidarity, equality and social justice prevail.

He said that an insurgent, rebel theory is necessary to make decisions different from the logic of the hegemonic model. He remarked classic theories such as Marxism and historical dialectic materialism are also necessary, but they are not enough as an original, popular thought becomes necessary.

“We need to create a network, and not only achieve great reflections and analysis, but to propose paths, concrete routes of actions to move forward with the utopia or magical illusion that a better world is possible,” he said.

Finally, Foreign Minister Arreaza urged the 47 intellectuals from 19 research institutes from America, Africa and Europe to take into consideration that the organizer of this meeting, ALBA-TCP, is an insurgent alliance within the unifying mechanisms of the peoples that goes beyond the population of its nine member states, that goes beyond Latin America and the Caribbean, and that embraces all the peoples of the Global South and summons them for life and social justice.

The Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America-People’s Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP) held on Monday the first virtual meeting with representatives from 19 research institutes of the Global South, where they proposed to jointly draft a document compiling post-pandemic proposals and anti-capitalist visions to be presented in forthcoming international fora.

The ALBA-TCP Executive Secretary, Sacha Llorenti, explained they discussed the creation of a research network and the jointly construction of a proposal for action for a post-pandemic world that includes the lessons learned amid the sanitary crisis, the challenges to be faced as a human family and how to ensure the construction of a new international order with justice and respect for the self-determination of the peoples without violence.

Llorenti pointed out that further meetings will be convened with the aim to have a consolidated document containing concrete proposals for the planet and to be presented in the next session of the United Nations General Assembly in September.

Likewise, the ALBA-TCP executive secretary remarked that while the United States calls these institutes “think tanks,” a term that denotes their militarized mentality, focused on violent, destructive actions, ALBA-TCP, on the contrary, is an alliance for life. He explained their task is to organize, articulate and develop their own thinking for social struggle and transformation.

Vijay Prashad, executive-director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, explained the world is experiencing an important moment with a COVID-19 pandemic that has exposed further the fragility of the capitalist system. Hence the transcendence that ALBA-TCP convenes this meeting with insurgent institutes to develop a platform in the short term enabling the governments and peoples of the south to have an intellectual leadership in the battle of global ideas.

In this regard, he presented the working methodology and schedule to draft a document they expect to present on September 21 on the 60^th anniversary of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), and later at the UN General Asembly.

The President of the Simón Bolívar Institute for Peace and solidarity among the Peoples (ISB), Carlo Ron, highlighted that this meeting represents an opportunity to have a vision for the future, “where we are heading and how we can think ideas in areas such as food, economy, public policies, among others, where we can help popular governments carry out projects for the benefit of humankind.”

Also, the representative of the Samuel Robinson Institute, Diego Sequera, explained that the definition of Global South does not necessarily refer to a geographic category; it rather involves the south of the world in a broader sense. Sequera added that crises represent an opportunity to produce innovations, and called on to build a path towards what is unknown by using everything we have learned so far.

In addition to the aforementioned institutes, the meeting was attended by representatives from the América Latina en Movimiento (Ecuador), the Research Center on Congo, the Centro de Investigación de la Economía Mundial (Cuba), the State Reform Center (Italy), the Chris Hani Institute (South Africa), Lebanon’s Consultation and Research Institute, Dominica’s State College, the Instituto Internacional de Investigación Andrés Bello (Bolivia), the Instituto Patria (Argentina) and the Institute of Employment Rights (United Kingdom), among others.

The meeting was also attended by Venezuela’s Minister of People’s Power for Foreign Affairs Jorge Arreaza, the Foreign Vice-minister for Multilateral Affairs Daniela Rodríguez and the President of the Bank of ALBA Raúl Li Causi.

The Executive Secretary of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America-People’s Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP), Sacha Llorenti, in the company of the President of the Bank of ALBA, Raúl Li Causi, thanked the regional organization’s member countries for their solidarity as the first phase of humanitarian aid provided to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines concluded, following the eruption of La Soufrière volcano.

“Each one of you is materializing with your presence, with your work, with your effort, what the Alliance for the Peoples of Our America means, an alliance for life,” said Secretary Llorenti, praising the work of Venezuelan soldiers, doctors and experts in natural disasters of the Simón Bolívar Humanitarian Task Force.

“You are an expression of what brotherhood and solidarity among peoples mean,” he stressed.

Llorenti reaffirmed that ALBA-TCP represents an alliance for life, not to invade, not to seize the natural resources of other peoples, nor to organize coups. “We get organized to extend a friendly, fraternal hand to those peoples in need,” he highlighted.

The President of the Bank of ALBA, Raúl Li Causi, extended the gratitude of the people and Government of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to the humanitarian aid contingent of Venezuelan and Cuban professionals who accomplished their mission in the Caribbean country.

“We’ve been able to provide this support for several weeks now (…) It’s been a tremendous job. You have placed Bolívar’s homeland and the name of ALBA-TCP on high, and we want to let you know by thanking you for your commitment and performance in this mission,” said Li Causi, who announced the return of the Bolivarian Navy ship and its crew to Venezuela after successfully accomplishing their mission in the island.

He said that the regional integration bloc is getting ready for the second phase of cooperation with Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to rebuild the country following this natural disaster.

In a first phase, the ALBA-TCP member countries established a sea corridor for the Venezuelan AB Goajira navy ship to transport water, food, personal hygiene kits and other supplies to assist the Vincentian population affected by the volcano’s eruption.

In the framework of his visit to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and as part of the efforts undertaken by the ALBA-TCP countries to support the Caribbean country, the Executive Secretary of the regional bloc and the chairman of the Board of the Bank of ALBA, Sasha Llorenti and Raúl Li Causi, respectively, visited on Wednesday the so-called “red zone,” devastated by the La Soufrière volcano eruption three weeks ago.

“The devastation is enormous. 14 thousand people evacuated and 100 million dollars in losses. ALBA will contribute in any way it can to accompany Saint Vincent and the Grenadines”, informed the Executive Secretary.
During the day, both authorities carried out an evaluation of the living conditions of the Sandy Bay sector, in which the destruction of important farmlands and the loss of cattle were evidenced.

“We have been doing a tour and evaluating the damage, and understanding what our participation, both as Venezuela and ALBA, will be. We are entering a recovery phase where the humanitarian situation is in some way under control”, explained the Chairman of the Board of the Bank of ALBA.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves explained that during these three days, meetings have been held to report on the administration of humanitarian aid provided by the ALBA-TCP countries and the action plan undertaken by the Vincentian government to rebuild, rehabilitate and recover the Caribbean nation.

“I fully expect that this partnership will continue until we recover stronger,” said the highest authority of the Caribbean nation.