The authorities of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America – People’s Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP) have officially announced – through a communiqué – the appointment of Venezuelan diplomat Jorge Arreaza as the new Executive Secretary.

Arreaza succeeds Félix Plasencia, appointed to the Secretariat in December 2022, when he replaced the Bolivian Sacha Llorenti, who was appointed in December 2020.

According to the communiqué, the new secretary has been entrusted with the task of developing an urgent and challenging work plan, the ALBA-TCP 2030 Strategic Agenda, aimed at giving an extraordinary drive to the process of comprehensive consolidation of the Alliance in the coming years.

It also states that Arreaza will be responsible for coordinating actions to reactivate the region’s cooperation structure by promoting trade exchange and the development of the logistics chain; expanding air and maritime connectivity; fostering the expansion of social inclusion programs; increasing the membership, capital assets and credit capacity of the Bank of ALBA; reactivating PetroCaribe and promoting its convergence with other regional cooperation mechanisms for development

ALBA-TCP is a historical and unprecedented Latin American and Caribbean integration platform, founded on December 14, 2004, as an alternative to the defunct FTAA, focused on the social dimension, which takes the human being at the core and epicenter of integration and union, based on the principles of solidarity, complementarity, justice and cooperation, joining the capacities and strengths of its member countries.

Currently, its members are the following countries of Latin America and the Caribbean: Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Grenada, Dominica, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Antigua and Barbuda, St. Lucia, and St. Kitts and Nevis.

Jorge Arreaza has a vast experience in high responsibility positions in the Venezuelan Government, having served as Executive Vice President, sectorial Vice President for Social Development and Revolution of the Missions and head of the Ministries for Science and Technology, Higher Education, Ecological Mining Development, Foreign Affairs, and Communes and Social Movements, among others.

The new ALBA-TCP Executive Secretary is Bachelor in International Studies from the Central University of Venezuela (UCV), with a major in Social Policy (Development Studies Center – CENDES in Spanish), and a Master in European Studies from the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom.

Being aware of the cultural plurality implicit in the tourist activity and aiming to continue strengthening the relations of fraternity and cooperation among the countries of the region, “Viajes Venetur” magazine presents this special edition centered on the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America – Peoples’ Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP), a space that, since its creation in 2004, has promoted the integration of Latin America and the Caribbean, governed by the principles of social justice, sovereignty, solidarity and complementarity.

We are pleased to present this edition, reaffirming the will and commitment of the Venezuelan government and people to build the new world based on our diversity and identity, showing the peaceful, inclusive and sovereign nature of our peoples, and which also gives us the opportunity to show the world the tourism potential, the valuable historical heritage and the wide and rich range of cultural expressions of Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Kitts and Nevis, Grenada and St. Lucia.

We are convinced that tourism is a strategic and structural factor to promote the integral development of nations, reason why this initiative is dedicated, in each of its editions, to highlighting the main attractions of different international destinations, where our region has always had and will always have a special position.

We will continue working to join efforts to produce significant and positive changes that will pave the way for progress and well-being for our countries, always respecting the principles of independence, cultural identity and self-determination of the peoples; and where cooperation, more than a slogan, translates into concrete and permanent actions.

On behalf of the team at Venezolana de Turismo, I would like to reiterate my commitment to contribute to this great crusade of regional integration, facing the challenges that the “new reality” imposes on us in the economic, social and political realms with hard work, creativity, commitment and responsibility.

The Executive Secretary of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America-People’s Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP), Sacha Llorenti, said Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua are vivid examples of what the Bolivarian principles stand for.

In this regard, Llorenti highlighted Cuba’s and Venezuela’s solidarity with brother countries facing needs despite the 243 unilateral coercive measures these two countries have been imposed.

In the case of Venezuela, he stressed the shipment of oxygen it sent to the Federative Republic of Brazil, while Cuba sent health professionals to different countries of the world to help face the COVID-19 pandemic.

“These countries are vivid examples of the Bolivarian principles that run through the veins of the Alliance (…) ALBA is showing with facts that other type of integration is possible,” he added.

Regarding relations with other countries beyond the region, the ALBA-TCP executive secretary said that the regional integration bloc maintains constant relations with different nations, including the Russian Federation, the People’s Republic of China, the Republic of Turkey, the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Republic of India, among others.

“It’s imperative that we join efforts, not only because of principles, but because threats are no global (…) the pandemic made us learn that we are united and that you cannot, or shouldn’t, save yourself on your own,” he stated.

In this regard, he regretted that the United Nations, as the body in charge of uniting the world, is going through “a crisis as a result of the imperial logic of trying to solve all issues through unilateralism in such a diverse world.”

Regarding the recent Mexican elections, Llorenti said that “the fact that Mexico is looking South is very important to everyone (…) I want to highlight the actions taken by President Andrés López Obrador to rescue of Evo Morales after the coup. That decision itself helped Bolivia recover its democracy months later.”

On the other hand, he said that the alliance between Argentina and Mexico represents the construction of an internal network through which Latin America and the Caribbean will be able to solve their problems on their own, without the meddling of bodies such as the OAS.

Llorenti explained that capitalism and neoliberalism have always tried to destroy cooperation, solidarity-based organizations so that those organizations favoring their interests, such as the OAS, can prevail.

“The OAS is the spearhead of the application of the Monroe Doctrine, which tries to turn Latin America and the Caribbean into the backyard and subordinates of the United States to take over their natural resources and make Latin America a market for its products, to have cheap workforce,” said Llorenti.

The ALBA-TCP executive secretary explained that the union between Argentina and Mexico is an example that Latin America is far away from becoming the backyard of some country. In this regard, he stressed that Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua are models for humanity in the defense of democracy, sovereignty and independence.

Llorenti condemned that “the United States and the OAS have used the pandemic as a weapon of mass destruction against the people of these countries. They believed that the pandemic was going to make the health system in these countries collapse, but they have had the best management of the pandemic.”

Executive Secretary Sacha Llorenti is certain that in these difficult times for humanity, ALBA is “writing the most wonderful history of solidarity thanks to its leaders and the will of their peoples.”

In order to assess the progress and challenges in the construction of a fairer, more egalitarian society without exclusion, the ALBA-TCP High-ranking authorities held a virtual meeting on Wednesday on Women and Gender Issues.

Continue reading “ALBA- TCP assesses progress, challenges in women, gender equality issues”

At the Meeting of ALBA-TCP High-ranking Authorities on Women and Gender Issues on Wednesday, the Minister of People’s Power for Women and Gender Equality, Carolys Pérez, urged to revitalize the ALBA-TCP Women’s Committee and reaffirmed that Venezuela condemns the imposition of unilateral coercive measures.

Continue reading “Venezuela proposes to revitalize ALBA-TCP Women’s Committee at High-ranking authorities meeting”

At the 21^st Political Council of the Bolivarian Alliance for the People of Our America-People’s Trade Treaty, the Venezuelan Foreign Minister, Jorge Arreaza, advocated that this organization become the driving force of the integration process in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Continue reading “Venezuela advocates ALBA-TCP become driving force of regional integration mechanisms”

The President of the Republic, Nicolás Maduro Moros, held a meeting on Tuesday with the Secretary General of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America – Peoples’ Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP), Sacha Llorenti.

Continue reading “President Maduro holds a meeting with the Secretary General of ALBA-TCP”