At a time when the
international financial schemes have shown their
unfeasibility, the agreement reached at the
Alliance with regard to the Unitary System (instead of
single-monetary system) for Regional Compensation (SUCRE
for its Spanish acronym) that will come into force on
January 1st, 2010, was very important.
Thus, the group made up by
Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Saint Vincent and
the Grenadines, Honduras, Ecuador, Dominica and Antigua
and Barbuda, established a financial mechanism that will
make it possible to give up dependence on the devalued
US dollar. Congratulations!
Similar importance has the
fact that this forum has established the fundamental
principles that will govern the Peoples’ Trade Agreement
(TCP) to develop regional trade based on complementary
aid, solidarity and cooperation “to live well”.
The document, an initiative
of the summit’s host, Bolivian President Evo Morales, is
even more significant when compared to the negative
effects the inclusion of Mexico in the North American
Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with the United States and
Canada has brought to Mexicans.
The Summit was an excellent
opportunity to expose the developed countries’
responsibility in the climate debt, while participants
demanded mechanisms of compensation for those countries
that preserve, protect and maintain their forests.
Likewise, it condemned the
US economic blockade of Cuba, when there were only a few
days left for the debate that in this regard will take
place at the UN General Assembly; it repudiated the coup
d´état in Honduras, which was described as an attempt
against the very same Alliance-Agreement; and rejected
the presence of US military bases in Colombia, a danger
to The Americas.
At the end of the event,
participating heads of state held a warm meeting with
delegates at the 1st Summit of Social Movements, which
carried out its sessions simultaneously -a fact that
evidences that joint work between political and social
spheres is possible.
Two centuries after the
first liberation cries in the homelands of Simon Bolivar
and Jose Marti…, the heads of state gathered in
Cochabamba reaffirmed their commitment of moving forward
to achieve independence, liberation, self-determination,
and the union the Latin American and Caribbean peoples
are claiming for.
These are elements proving the relevance of the ALBA
model.
