Havana, March 18, 2025.- The conference Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America – Peoples’ Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP) and Its Communication Strategy took center stage on the second day of the 4th Patria International Colloquium, which is being held at the University of Havana, Cuba, until March 19.

Venezuelan journalist and press coordinator of the regional bloc, Román Montilla, opened his presentation by highlighting the central objective of the Bolivarian Alliance: the unity of Latin America and the Caribbean, based on political cohesion, the safeguarding of independence and identity, and the promotion of solidarity, cooperation, and justice.

In this regard, he emphasized that ALBA-TCP utilizes various digital communication platforms to achieve this goal, as well as to disseminate progress in political and social matters and foster regional unity.

ALBA-TCP leverages social media to spread the truth about the peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as to promote development programs aimed at strengthening the sovereignty of its member nations, such as AgroALBA, a program focused on regional food independence.

During his speech, the journalist underscored that ALBA-TCP’s communication strategy seeks to “counter global media hegemony, challenge distorted narratives in international media, and defeat disinformation campaigns that create confusion,” he explained.

“Among our proposals is the creation of a network of public and community media outlets within ALBA-TCP, as well as the establishment of a fund to support the production and dissemination of high-quality content,” stated Román Montilla, while affirming that the ultimate goal is to strengthen regional identity.

“It is essential to foster a sense of belonging and solidarity among the peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as to share information about the benefits of cooperation across various sectors,” he concluded.

Providing an alternative to major media conglomerates is the essence of the Bolivarian Alliance’s communication strategy, Montilla concluded.

The 4th Patria International Colloquium began this Monday in Havana, Cuba, bringing together communication specialists from various nations. The forum will run until March 19.

Havana, March 18, 2025.- The Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America – Peoples’ Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP) brought its voices to the 4th Patria International Colloquium, which is taking place from March 17 to 19 in Havana, Cuba.

José Gregorio Montilla, a representative of grassroots communication in Venezuela and a member of the ALBA-TCP communications team, discussed alternative and community media and their alliance to counter the disinformation spread by major capitalist corporations.

“Venezuela is constantly under attack through disinformation campaigns by the dominant media conglomerates (…) They are always trying to control us, but we stand united, forming a point and circle of resistance across the territory,” Montilla emphasized.

He also noted that Venezuela has more than 450 community radio stations, established within popular communities through the initiative of President Hugo Chávez and with the continued support of President Nicolás Maduro.

“We are a vast structure deployed across the national territory, tirelessly engaging in the communication battle. These communicators are on the frontlines every day, defending the country’s informational sovereignty. Moreover, this structure allows us to reach remote areas,” he stated.

The ALBA-TCP community media representative stressed that their main objective is to defend the truth. “That is what we do—defend the truth every single day,” he affirmed.

The 4th Patria International Colloquium, which began this Monday, March 17, focuses on exploring the transformation of power dynamics in an interconnected world under the premise ‘we are peoples weaving networks.’

This forum, held at the University of Havana, brings together nearly 400 guests from Cuba and 47 countries to analyze the role of digital content and platforms as tools for social mobilization, political participation, and the shaping of power structures.

Havana, March 17, 2025 – The President of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, participated this Tuesday in the inauguration of the fourth edition of the International Colloquium “Patria” which brings together approximately 400 national and international delegates from 47 countries.

Under the theme «We are peoples weaving networks», the event, held at the University of Havana, will discuss the use of digital content and platforms as tools for social mobilization, political participation, and the shaping of power.

The program includes conferences, theoretical workshops, and exhibition fairs, with this edition dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the multi-state channel Telesur—founded by Fidel Castro and Hugo Chávez—and the 40th anniversary of the Faculty of Communication at the University of Havana.

Sponsored by the Union of Cuban Journalists and with the collaboration of Casa de las Américas and the Hermanos Saíz Association, the Colloquium ‘Patria’ provides communicators, academics, politicians, activists, and interested citizens with a space for reflection on the opportunities and challenges of technopolitics.

This forum has been held since 2022 as part of the Cuban Press Day celebrations and pays tribute to the newspaper Patria, founded in 1892 by National Hero José Martí to disseminate libertarian ideas and unite Cubans around the need for independence from the Spanish metropolis.

Prensa Latina

Caracas, March 13, 2025 – During the premiere of the podcast Nuestras Voces, the Executive Secretary of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America – Peoples’ Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP), Jorge Arreaza, discussed the Palestinian Cause and the realities faced by this nation.

“Many peoples around the world are fighting for their liberation, but without a doubt, Palestine is the one that requires a thousand voices, a million voices to express its pain, its outrage, and its unwavering will to be free and to exist in its territory and with its status (…).It is Palestine’s voice that must be heard,” asserted Arreaza.

Ahmed Qaraqra, a young Palestinian who serves as the official spokesperson for the Fatah political organization in the Spanish-speaking world and a general and plastic surgeon, spoke about the health crisis in the West Bank, which has been directly impacted by attacks from the Israeli army.

The health crisis

He commented that in the Palestinian territory of the West Bank, there are no hospitals to rely on, no doctors, no anesthesia. “As a doctor, I know the Jenin hospital, and it was completely destroyed. It was a hospital that normally treated up to a million people. There is no respect for doctors, no impunity for healthcare facilities. The Israeli army can enter the operating room whenever they decide, and there are no authorities to stop them.”

During the podcast, Qaraqra also emphasized that the true descendants of the Hebrew people “are us, the Palestinians. We, the indigenous Palestinians, have mixed with various civilizations that have passed through our lands (…). That is why DNA testing is prohibited in Israel—it is banned by law, through a resolution approved by the acting Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.”

The Palestinian doctor rejected the notion of harboring prejudice against an Israeli individual without understanding the broader context. He affirmed that there are men and women in Israel who oppose the war. “There was a great deal of empathy toward the Jewish people who arrived in our land,” he remarked.

Qaraqra also spoke about the Nakba (catastrophe) after being asked about it by the ALBA-TCP Executive Secretary. Regarding this mass killing, he described it as a cruel act: “They would wipe out an entire village and leave behind a single child or young person so they could run to another territory.”

Living through a genocide

Meanwhile, Refaat Alathamna, a Palestinian with Bolivian nationality and an anesthesiologist at the European Hospital of Khan Younis in Gaza, commented via videoconference that the genocide has been devastating for Palestinian lives.

“It was extremely difficult to be both a doctor and a father. When we were given a one-day warning to evacuate, to find somewhere to go and take my children—I didn’t even know where—to a supposedly safe place, at the same time, I had a hospital shift because there was a crisis, and we had to work twice as hard. There was a shortage of doctors,” he recounted.

Alathamna revealed that hospitals and ambulances were heavily targeted by Israel. “It was very difficult to survive. I had to split myself in two. I have five children. My work was exhausting, I wasn’t paid a salary, everything was blocked. I lost everything—my apartment, my car. I fled with my children with just the clothes on our backs (…). Worst of all, there was nowhere to go.”

Both Palestinian citizens denounced Israel’s disregard for the ceasefire and called for the recognition of the Palestinian state as an independent nation.

Finally, Arreaza stated that Palestine has taught the world the meaning of solidarity, the power of communication, and the strength to resist.

Caracas, March 11, 2025 – As part of the forum organized by the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America–Peoples’ Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP) in collaboration with the Bolivarian Military Academy of Venezuela, the plan to dismantle Syria was the subject of debate this Tuesday.

Venezuela’s ambassador to that nation, José Gregorio Biomorgi, opened the conference on Syria and its role in the current geopolitical landscape. He began his address by emphasizing that Syria’s geographical location, which connects several countries to the Mediterranean, makes it a strategic territory and a focal point for capitalist and imperialist interests.

“This grants Syria a special status as a bridge between East Asia and the Mediterranean,” the diplomat affirmed, while recalling that since 1997, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) had planned to invade various territories, including Syria.

Furthermore, Biomorgi stated that what has unfolded in Syria is not a civil war, but rather a “terrorist war” sponsored by the United States, which has used “both internal and external means to destroy it.”

The ambassador asserted that the plan against Syria is not new, as the United States has merely reshaped its interventions and continues to finance terrorist groups in the Middle East. Today, a terrorist movement dominates Syria.

Syria’s crisis, he explained, has some of its roots in the country’s refusal to support the invasion of Iraq. “The United States never forgave Syria for not backing the invasion of Iraq and for providing its territory for logistical support,” Biomorgi detailed.

The ongoing crisis in Syria continues to cause suffering both for those still living in the country and for those forced to flee due to the despair sown by imperial forces.

“This is the empire’s strategy—to demoralize, to make young people believe there is no future, so they leave. That is precisely what was applied in Syria—a country that has endured 13 years of war,” the ambassador stated.

Biomorgi urged Venezuelan youth to study history in depth, to thoroughly analyze the case of Syria and other nations invaded by the United States, as the same imperial strategies applied there are also being used against the Bolivarian homeland.

Caracas, February 26, 2025.- In order to strengthen integration and cooperation in various areas of work, the Executive Secretariat of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America – Peoples’ Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP) and the Executive Secretariat of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding this Wednesday in Caracas.

The document, signed by Executive Secretaries Jorge Arreaza and Elias Mpedi Magosi, respectively, acknowledges the commitments agreed upon in the Africa-South America Summits (ASA Summits) of 2006, 2009, and 2013 to promote solid and effective cooperation between the regions.

Likewise, both regional blocs agree on the importance of enhancing regional integration and economic and social development through the establishment of a mutually cooperative relationship, fostering greater integration within their respective regions.

The objectives of the memorandum are to provide a framework for collaboration between the parties in various programs and activities, as well as to promote close cooperation and consultation on matters of mutual interest.

According to the signed document, the areas of cooperation include social and human development, youth training and leadership, educational exchange programs and scholarships, cultural and sports exchanges, literacy programs using modern technologies, and medical and scientific care programs.

Additionally, they will collaborate on industrialization, peace and security cooperation, natural resource management, tourism promotion, disaster risk management, and communication and information technologies, among other areas.

Caracas, February 26, 2025.- The Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America – Peoples’ Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP), in collaboration with the Bolivarian Military Academy of Venezuela, held a discussion on Tuesday titled The Role of Migration in International Geopolitics.

Pedro Sassone, Deputy Minister for Comprehensive Attention to Venezuelan Migration at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, emphasized that migration is a topic that belongs to the youth, as they are the generation seeking development and growth.

Sassone stated that it is essential to study and understand the reasons behind migration in order to address this phenomenon in Venezuela and the region. Regarding the Venezuelan case, he pointed out that unconventional warfare, reinforced by sanctions, was one of the main drivers of the exodus of hundreds of Venezuelans to other countries.

The Deputy Minister asserted that the implementation of coercive measures resulted in migration, an action aimed at overthrowing the Bolivarian Government and undermining the nation’s prosperity. “Migration is the consequence of an attack on a country from an economic, social, and political perspective,” he added.

Meanwhile, sociologist Eulalia Tabares stated that, according to international law, “it is not a country’s obligation to repatriate its citizens; the obligation is to assist and advise them (…). However, what happens is that Venezuela’s Bolivarian Diplomacy of Peace has reversed this, turning what is not an obligation for other countries into a duty for us.”

She highlighted that Venezuela has implemented the Plan Vuelta a la Patria (Return to the Homeland Plan), a repatriation program for Venezuelans—a policy that does not exist in any other country. “Venezuela has the Plan Vuelta a la Patria, a plan that does not exist anywhere else. You will not find such a plan in any other country, and this will not appear on CNN (…). That is why we must bring visibility to all of this, so we can truly understand what the Bolivarian Diplomacy of Peace represents.”

Castries, February 22, 2025 – This Saturday, the Executive Secretary of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America – Peoples’ Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP), Jorge Arreaza, and the Prime Minister of Saint Lucia, Philip Pierre, held a meeting in Saint Lucia.

Following the celebration of the 46th anniversary of the Caribbean nation’s independence, Arreaza and Pierre discussed AgroALBA, a program promoted by the Alliance to ensure food sovereignty in the region.

They also addressed matters related to the regional bloc’s 2030 Agenda, as well as the agreements reached at the 12th Extraordinary Summit of ALBA-TCP, held in early February this year in Caracas.

The Executive Secretary and the Prime Minister of Saint Lucia agreed that the meeting served as an opportunity to reaffirm the unity of the Alliance’s member countries.

After the meeting, Arreaza stated on his Instagram account: “We had the honor of being received by Prime Minister Philip Pierre to discuss strategic issues on ALBA’s agenda, such as AgroALBA, upcoming ministerial meetings, complementary trade, support for deported migrants, and cooperation in security, risk management, and culture.”