The Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (Spanish: Alternativa Bolivariana para las Américas or ALBA - which also means 'dawn' in Spanish) is a political, social and economic cooperation and complementation vision of integration between the Latin American countries, proposed by the government of Venezuela as an alternative to the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA or ALCA in Spanish) proposed by the United States. While the ALBA itself has not yet become a hemispheric-wide trade agreement, Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua and Bolivia have entered into a Peoples' Trade Agreement (Spanish: "Tratado de Comercio de los Pueblos" - TCP) which aims to implement the principles of ALBA between those four nations. Latin America consists of the countries of South America and some of North America (including Central America and some the islands of the Caribbean) whose inhabitants mostly speak Romance languages, although Native American languages are also spoken. ... This article or section needs to be updated. ...

Map of participants in the TCP

The adjective Bolivarian refers to general Simón Bolívar, the hero of the wars against colonial allegiance power Spain that helped several South American states or their forerunners to gain independence by rebellion, and a major figure in Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez's hemispheric Bolivarian ideology. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías (IPA: ) (born July 28, 1954) is the current President of Venezuela. ...

The ALBA fundamentally and explicitly rejects many of the principles embodied in neoliberal free trade agreements. Instead, it strives to practice principles of cooperation and resource transfer, as well as supporting cooperative, family, and small-scale producers. A good example of this vision in practice are the results of the ^[1], which was signed on December 14, 2004 by Presidents Hugo Chávez and Fidel Castro. The idea of ALBA was first proposed by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in 2001. The agreement was aimed at the exchange of medical resources and petroleum between both nations. Venezuela delivers about 96,000 barrels of oil per day from its state-owned petroleum operations to Cuba at very favorable prices and Cuba in exchange sent 20,000 state-employed medical staff and thousands of teachers to Venezuela's slums. The term neoliberalism is used to describe a political-economic philosophy that had major implications for government policies beginning in the 1970s – and increasingly prominent since 1980 – that de-emphasizes or rejects positive government intervention in the economy, focusing instead on achieving progress and even social justice by... Free trade is an economic concept referring to the selling of products between countries without tariffs or other trade barriers. ... December 14 is the 348th day of the year (349th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías (IPA: ) (born July 28, 1954) is the current President of Venezuela. ... Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (born on August 13, 1926) is the current President of Cuba but on indefinite medical hiatus. ...

President Evo Morales of poor but gas-rich Bolivia joined the TCP on April 29, 2006, only days before he announced his intention to nationalize Bolivia's hydrocarbon assets.^[2] Newly elected President Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua, signed the agreement in January 2007;^[3] Venezuela agreed to forgive Nicaragua's $31 million debt as a result. On February 23, 2007 Ortega visited Caracas to solidify Nicaragua's participation in ALBA.^[4]. Rafael Correa, the president of Ecuador, signed a joint agreement with Hugo Chávez, to become a member of ALBA once he becomes president.^[5] Juan Evo Morales Ayma (born October 26, 1959 in Orinoca, Oruro), popularly known as Evo (IPA: ), is the President of Bolivia, and the countrys first indigenous head of state since the Spanish Conquest over 470 years ago. ... April 29 is the 119th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (120th in leap years). ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... The Bolivian Gas War was a social conflict in Bolivia centering around the exploitation of the countrys vast natural gas reserves. ... José Daniel Ortega Saavedra (born 11 November 1945) is the current President of Nicaragua. ... Rafael Correa Delgado (born 6 April 1963) is an Ecuadorian economist, former finance minister, and current president-elect. ...

See also

Free trade is an economic concept referring to the selling of products between countries without tariffs or other trade barriers. ... A free trade area is a designated group of countries that have agreed to eliminate tariffs, quotas and preferences on most (if not all) goods between them. ... International trade is the exchange of goods and services across international boundaries or territories. ... Petrocaribe S. A. is a Caribbean oil alliance with Venezuela to purchase their oil on conditions of preferential payment, launched in June of 2005. ... A trade bloc is a large free trade area or free trade area formed by one or more tax, tariff and trade agreements. ... Official Languages Portuguese, Spanish and Guaraní Members  Argentina (1991)  Brazil (1991)  Paraguay (1991)  Uruguay (1991)  Venezuela (2006)2 Associate Members  Bolivia (1997)  Chile (1996)  Colombia (2004)  Ecuador (2004)  Peru (2003) Observer  Mexico (2004)3 Presidency Carlos Chacho Álvarez Seat of Secretariat Montevideo Area 12. ... The Andean Community of Nations (in Spanish: Comunidad Andina de Naciones, abbreviated CAN) is a trade bloc comprising the South American countries of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela (which is in the process of leaving the bloc). ... NAFTA redirects here. ... The South American Community of Nations (CSN) (Spanish: , Portuguese: , Dutch: ) will be a continent-wide free trade zone that will unite two existing free-trade organizations—Mercosur and the Andean Community—eliminating tariffs for non-sensitive products by 2014 and sensitive products by 2019. ... The Latin American Free Trade Association was created in 1960 in the 1960 Treaty of Montevideo by Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay. ...

References

External links

• AlternativaBolivariana.org (Spanish)
• Venezuela's Answer to "Free Trade": The Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (December 7, 2006) - Focus on the Global South
• Cuba, Bolivia, Venezuela celebrate alternative to US-led trade pacts (April 30th, 2006) - Jamaica Observer
• Venezuela and the Caribbean (April 21st 2006) - Stabroek Newspaper Guyana.
• Editorial: Hugo Chávez and the Americans (May 12th 2005) - Stabroek Newspaper Guyana.
• Commentary: Is Mr Chavez's Bolivarian Alternative attractive? (February 26th 2004) - Stabroek Newspaper Guyana.
• Text of December 14, 2004 agreement between Venezuela and Cuba for the application of ALBA
• Venezuelan and Ecuadorian Presidents Seal Friendship with Joint Declaration (Dec 22nd, 2006) Venezuela Analysis