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2012Aug15 Curso Sindical pt. 3 Tijuana

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2012Aug15 Curso Sindical pt. 2 Tijuana

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2012Aug15 - Curso Sindical pt 1 Tijuana

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Tour begins March 30 in Los Angeles; March 31 in San Diego; April 1, San Francisco; April 2 San Jose; April 3 Sacramento

Forum on ALBA in CHICAGO

The U.S./Cuba Labor Exchange conferences in Tijuana, Mexico focus on theses themes specifically related to workers. Please welcome Cuban Ambassador Bolanos at this excellent and informative forum!

Forum on ALBA:
Latin America and the Continental Integration of the Peoples

The achievements of ALBA-TCP (alba-tcp.org) and the integration of the continental social movements

Thursday, March 22 and Friday, March 23
5:00-8:00pm DePaul University
Schmitt Academic Center (SAC) Room 154
2320 N. Kenmore, Chicago

Thursday, March 22:
Conference on the Social Movements of the ALBA-TCP Nations

Luther Castillo, Spokesperson for the Honduran People’s Front for National Resistance; co-coordinator of Cuba’s Latin American School of Medicine's international team of physicians working in Haiti after the earthquake

Rummie Quintero, LGBT activist, Venezuela

José Aguilar, Free Software Movement, Venezuela

Amenothep Zambrano, Executive Secretary of ALBA-TCP

Jose Pertierra, represents Venezuelan government in the case to extradite Luis Posada Carriles

Friday, March 23:
Conference with Diplomats of the ALBA-TCP Nations

Francisco Campbell Hooker, Nicaragua Ambassador in Washington

Jorge Bolaños Suárez, Chief of the Cuban Interests Section in Washington

Angelo Rivero, Presiding Officer of the Embassy of Venezuela in Washington

Freddy Bersatti Tudela, Presiding Officer of the Embassy of the Plurinational State of Bolivia in Washington

Amenothep Zambrano, Executive Secretary of ALBA-TCP

Organized by: DePaul University, General Consulate of Venezuela in Chicago,

Chicago Committee to Free the Cuban 5, La Voz de los de Abajo.

For more information: Jesús Rodríguez Espinoza ; Stan Smith, uscubachi@yahoo.com, 773-376-7521

What is ALBA?

The Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America - Trade Treaty of the People (ALBA-TCP) presently consists of Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia, Ecuador, Dominica, St. Vincent and Grenadines, Antigua and Barbuda, and Nicaragua.

“ALBA’s fight is for a second true independence for Latin America and Caribbean; to free ourselves from poverty and illiteracy and achieve development for our people,” explains Amenothep Zambrano, Executive Secretary of ALBA.

ALBA is a trade agreement that mutually benefits all parties based on the strengths and weaknesses of each of the members. It builds Latin American unity and solidarity through mutual economic development, fair trade, joint development projects and South-South coordination. This is a radical break neo-colonial history based upon imperial exploitation, the fiction of a free market, and domination by the United States.

Why was ALBA created?

ALBA was created as a direct response to the attempt by the United States to impose the Free Trade Area of the Americas treaty on the entire region of Latin America and the Caribbean. Implementation of the FTAA would have imposed intensified neo-liberal economic policies, increasing crushing levels of poverty, unemployment and foreign-imposed debt.

Hugo Chávez and Fidel Castro formally created ALBA on Dec. 14, 2004, at the celebration of the 180th anniversary of the victory of Ayacucho, the day Simón Bolívar’s army won independence from Spain

The need for alliances such as ALBA is demonstrated by the more than 50-year-long war waged by the United States against Cuba, the 2002 failed U.S.-coup attempt against Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, the 2009 U.S. coup against the democratically-elected pro-ALBA president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, the 7 new U.S. military bases in Colombia, and the failed U.S. coups in Bolivia and Ecuador. ALBA countries have recently condemned foreign intervention in Libya and Syria, and have recently strengthened their ties with Iran.

What Has ALBA Accomplished?

ALBA initiatives include: the ALBA Bank, funding the different development projects in their countries, working towards independence from the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and other exploiting global institutions; the creation of 12 public companies to strengthen national economies in agriculture, infrastructure, telecommunications, industrial supplies and cement production; PetroCaribe, which greatly increases access to energy resources; and a diverse array of health and education programs.

ALBA’s social achievements include the elimination of poverty for 11 million people in only five years, through free universal education, food programs, and health programs. Unemployment has dropped to 8.7%, lower than in the U.S. Literacy rates have risen from 84% to 96%; now Bolivia and Nicaragua join Cuba and Venezuela in being free of illiteracy. Infant mortality rates have been reduced by 32%; life expectancy increased to 73 years. 1,899.808 people have had their vision restored or improved through Mision Milagro. 2,294,666 handicapped persons have received health care service for their problems. Hundreds of their countries students are enrolled in ALBA’s Latin American School of Medicine to develop still more critically-needed medical workers.

The leading official of the Venezuela Embassy recently noted that U.S. media routinely demonizes ALBA and its programs as threats to its own system. He disputed that, saying that ALBA and its programs are “not threats but opportunities taken by Latin American and Caribbean countries to develop their own people with their own resources….We have changed and we aren’t going back. If U.S. representatives understand this, we will be able to go forward, if not, we will defend what we have created!”