The Executive Secretary of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America-People’s Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP), Sacha Llorenti, arrived on Monday in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to coordinate and strengthen the humanitarian bridge activated by the member countries of this regional bloc to assist the people affected by the eruption of La Soufrière volcano in early April.

Llorenti was accompanied by the President of the Bank of ALBA’s Board of Directors, Raúl Li Causi, who has been to the island country since the beginning of the emergency to manage the support provided by the Bolivarian Government and the financial institution.

Llorenti and Li Causis were received by the Vincentian authorities.

The ALBA-TCP humanitarian aid includes 280 tons of drinking water, 48 tons of supplies, bottled water, food, personal hygiene kits, 100 1-gallon water tanks and a base station for mobile communications, in addition to medicines and health personnel provided by the Republic of Cuba.

Venezuela also delivered 20 tons of humanitarian aid, 68 doctors and experts in natural disasters, including 15 members of the Simón Bolívar Humanitarian Task Force, and a navy ship to transport aid from the Caribbean’s allied countries.

The ALBA-TCP Executive Secretary, Sacha Llorenti, in the company of the Executive Director of the Bank of ALBA, Raúl Li Causi, and Venezuela’s Vice-minister for Europe, Yván Gil, held a meeting with the Ambassador of the Republic of Belarus to Venezuela, Andrei Molchan, to ensure interregional alliances between ALBA-TCP and Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) member countries and discuss projects within the framework of the South-South cooperation.
Ambassador Molchan stressed the political importance of the Alliance in Latin America and the Caribbean, being this a good opportunity to bring the regional bloc closer to the Republic of Belarus to develop cooperation projects highly beneficial for both parties.
Executive Secretary Sacha Llorenti said that the ALBA-TCP nations and Belarus agree on most of their principles; therefore, it’s natural for the two of them to work together in areas of common interest.
Furthermore, the Bank of ALBA’s Executive Director, Raúl Li Causi, thanked the Ambassador for his proposal, and recognized that this meeting takes place in a key moment as the region is facing a difficult situation due to the socioeconomic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

During the Meeting on “Re-establishing our Connection with the Mother Earth: Global Reflections for the Defense of Pachamama”, the Plurinational State of Bolivia undertook the commitment to lead, in coordination with all the peoples of the South, a global action on this matter and requested the Secretary General of the United Nations (UN), António Guterres, to urgently convene an Earth Assembly to “continue developing the cosmobiocentric, non-anthropocentric paradigm, within the framework of multilateralism”.

As stated by the Bolivian Vice President, David Choquehuanca, during his speech at the event held in La Paz, on the occasion of International Earth Day, in which he also requested the UN General Assembly to create a multilateral agency for water for life, “understanding that we have to open spaces for political dialogue at the highest level to progress in the construction of common guidelines towards a water for life agenda”.

On behalf of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, the Minister of People’s Power for Foreign Affairs, Jorge Arreaza, focused his speech on the failure of the savage capitalist system, which has turned nature into a commodity and in which it is impossible to fulfill the objectives of humanity; therefore, “we must consider the capitalist system defeated and decide to undertake another one, in which human and production relations with Mother Earth are radically different. It is up to us to fight this hard battle”.

He pointed out that there is not much time to build this post-capitalist system, so he proposed that the Charter of the United Nations – signed in 1945 – be amended to incorporate the rights of Mother Earth.

The same concern was expressed by UN Secretary General António Guterres, who, in a recorded message, stated that crucial ecosystems and food chains are on the verge of collapse because the air, land and seas are being treated as landfills. “That is a suicidal attitude. We must end our war with nature and take care of it until it recovers its health,” he urged.

He stressed that this means limiting the increase of global temperature to a maximum of 1.5°C, adopting more solid measures to protect biodiversity and reduce pollution, by creating circular economies that generate less waste. He also emphasized that the recovery from COVID-19 pandemic offers an opportunity for the world to walk a cleaner, greener and more sustainable path.

Alicia Bárcena, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), in her remarks, shared that ” citizens of the world are experiencing, as never before, the consequences of levels and patterns of consumption and production resulting from predatory models of ecosystems and natural resources, which threaten the health of the planet and all its inhabitants, and this has caused an unprecedented ecological and climate crisis in the modern history of mankind.

Finally, Luis Felipe López Calva, regional director for Latin America and the Caribbean of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), noted that the success of the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030 depends on the collaboration of everyone, especially governments, and in this regard, a global transformation of attitudes and practices is necessary, and it is especially urgent to address the way in which the energy that fuels the progress of countries is produced.

Other participants were Nnimmo Bassey, former president of Friends of the Earth International (Nigeria), Marie Toussaint, MEP and representative of the Alliance Against Ecocide (France), Eliana Torrico, Tree Collective (Bolivia), Vandana Shiva (India) and Cardinal Barreto, president of the Pan-Amazonian Ecclesial Network (Peru).

As part of the humanitarian bridge launched by the member countries of the Bolivarian Alliance of the Peoples of Our America (ALBA-TCP), the Venezuelan AB Goajira navy ship docked on Wednesday at Saint Vincent and the Grenadines with a new cargo of supplies from Saint Lucia to assist the population affected by the eruption of La Soufrière volcano.

The aid shipment contains 280 tons of drinking water, 48 tons of supplies, bottled water, food, hygiene kits and utensils, in addition to 100 1,000-gallon water tanks and a base station for mobile communications.

Likewise, the Venezuelan navy ship transported a cargo of medicines and health personnel from the Republic of Cuba.

Venezuela recently delivered 20 tons of humanitarian aid to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines that included drinking water, food, mattresses, sheets and personal hygiene kits, in addition to 68 doctors and experts in natural disasters, including 15 members from the Simón Bolívar Humanitarian Task Force.

Later, the Bolivarian Government offered Saint Lucia its navy ship to transport a cargo provided by the island, as well as Cuban supplies and personnel.

As part of the cooperation and solidarity among the member countries of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA-TCP), this regional integration bloc moves forward with the humanitarian bridge to assist the Saint Vincent and the Grenadines’ people, following the eruption of the La Soufrière volcano, which had remained inactive for 30 years. 

The President of the Bank of ALBA, Raúl Li Causi, said that “the idea of this humanitarian bridge is to help other countries in the region which do not rely on logistics deliver supplies collected to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines,” and highlighted Venezuela’s cooperation through a navy ship available to sail through the Eastern Caribbean islands and countries and transport water and food for the victims of this volcanic eruption.

After the Venezuelan Government sent 20 tons of humanitarian aid consisting of water, food, mattresses, sheets, personal hygiene kits, as well as 68 doctors and experts in natural disasters, including 15 members of the Simón Bolívar Humanitarian Task Force, to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, the ship departed to Saint Lucia to transport supplies from there.

“We told the Government of Saint Lucia that our ship could make stops at two docks, where Prime Minister Allen Chastanet verified the humanitarian aid sent to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and thanked Venezuela and ALBA-TCP for the humanitarian bridge,” said Li Causi.

Likewise, he informed the ship will head back to the affected country and Cuba will provide two aircrafts with humanitarian aid that will arrive in Saint Lucia due to the difficulties to land in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, covered by the ashes produced by the volcano’s eruption.

Li Causi, who is also Foreign Vice-minister for the Caribbean, announced that Venezuela will also send six Cuban doctors to assist the island’s population.

“This is all part of the ALBA cooperation; it’s not only bilateral cooperation as we can all join efforts to face the needs of Saint Vincent,” he said.

Since Friday, April 9, the Vincentian people has been at risk due to the volcanic activity. The first eruption produced a huge ash plume and forced authorities to evacuate 20,000 people from affected areas.

On Monday, April 12, another eruption was registered, producing a 17 km high ash plume that covered a large part of the Caribbean island and affected part of Barbados.

In order to improve the communication policy of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA-TCP), Executive Secretary Sacha Llorenti opened on Monday the ALBA-TCP Meeting of Communication and Information High-ranking Authorities.

At the virtual meeting, the authorities and representatives of ALBA-TCP member countries moved forward with a roadmap for political communication actions to strengthen the ALBA-TCP’s international presence and voice by upgrading communication policy to a new level.

In his opening statement, the ALBA-TCP executive secretary stressed that the regional bloc held this meeting to upgrade its communication policy, understanding it as a tool of great value to promote encounters and integration, and give prevalence to the truth, ethical principles and international law.

“We are guided by love, peace, and justice, not hatred […] In ALBA we build a different model to give prevalence to human beings and nature over merchandises or capital,” added Llorenti.

In that same vein, Bolivia’s Communication Vice-minister Gabriela Alcon Merubia said that ALBA-TCP is an important space to make our voice heard throughout America.

“We must strengthen and expand our message to all the possible media with sovereignty […] and join all our efforts and capacities to do the communication battle. We cannot let what Bolivia experienced happen again,” warned the Bolivian vice-minister.

Likewise, Alcon Merubia recalled and condemned the media blackout experienced by the Bolivian people, the use of social media to persecute an stigmatize amid the 2019 coup, and attacks against alternative media.

Also, the President of the Cuban Institute of Radio and Television, Alfonso Noya, insisted on the need of creating a public communication and information system to manage communication from the perspective of a more inclusive model.

Likewise, Noya condemned that Venezuela, Nicaragua and other ALBA-TCP member states have been the target of unilateral coercive measures that encapsulate the empire’s aggressivity expressed in a permanent war of symbols.

“If we assume that culture, education and communication play a fundamental role in the process of economic development and democratization, we will agree on their extraordinary contribution to the transforming construction of a nation project and the ALBA’s aspiration of a community,” he added.

Regarding the role of the ALBA-TCP member countries, the representative of Saint Kitts and Nevis expressed the need of making the governments’ efforts visible to defend the life of their people amid the COVID-9 pandemic.

Furthermore, he condemned that the great powers and media corporations, as well as social media, censor official information, particularly that of ALBA-TCP countries, thus violating the people’s right to freedom of expression, access to quality, timely information, and disturbing their right to peace.

Joint Agenda

Venezuela’s Vice-president of Communication, Culture and Tourism, Freddy Ñáñez, urged ALBA-TCP to build a joint agenda including alternative, popular media “so that they be spaces of defense to dismantle fake news against our countries.”

The President of multi-state TV network Telesur, Patricia Villegas, asserted that “it is imperative to work as a network, to create a community and build agendas so that our existence as nations is not destroyed.”

Villegas said that Telesur is an expression of ALBA-TCP’s integration, “a media outlet that shows us how similar we are, unlike those media outlets in charge of showing our differences and conflicts.”

In this important meeting, Villegas recalled that “Commanders Fidel Castro and Hugo Chávez envisioned a continental channel capable of building an informative agenda hand in hand with the organized popular power,” giving birth to Telesur.