FRFI 183 February / March 2005
On 14 December, Hugo Chavez, President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, and President Fidel Castro of Cuba signed a document to extend and modify the Integral Co-operation Agreement of 30 October 2000. Beyond the economics, this social programme sets the basis for continental action, mutual support against imperialism and cooperative trade between oppressed nations, within the framework of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA). JUANJO RIVAS reports.
2005 is the deadline set by the United States for the implementation of the neo-liberal Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) – or its carbon copies on bilateral and regional levels. The FTAA aims to ‘denationalise’ the economies of Latin America, subordinating them to the dictates of foreign capital. By their example, Cuba and Venezuela have put themselves at the head of a hemispheric movement of resistance to imperialist interests, for the benefit of the poor and against the seemingly invincible might of market-based solutions.
The Integral Co-operation Agreement commits both countries to:
• open state bank subsidiaries on each other’s territories;
• encourage the development of joint cultural projects;
• offer preferential treatment and facilities for aircraft flying from one to the other;
• work together to eliminate illiteracy and improve health care in other underdeveloped countries, using the methods which have proved so successful in Venezuela;
• eliminate non-tariff barriers on all imports originating from each other’s countries.
In addition, Cuba:
• offers a guaranteed price for oil from Venezuela, of at least $27 per barrel, whatever the volatility of the market;
• eliminates any restrictions on Venezuelan state investments;
• offers 2,000 scholarships per year to Venezuelans for any advanced studies including scientific research, and as many as necessary for studies of medicine, for the next ten years;
• guarantees to support over 15,000 medical professionals participating in the Barrio Adentro health mission in Venezuela;
• makes available the use of its installations and anti-doping control equipment to Venezuelan athletes.
In return, the Venezuelan government will:
• collaborate with Cuba in biodiversity investigation studies;
• develop agreements with the island in the sphere of telecommunications, including the use of satellites, air facilities and maritime transportation;
• fund productive or infrastructral projects relating to the energy sector, electricity industry, asphalting of roads, port development and so on, as well as scholarships for studies in the energy sector or any other of interest to Cuba.
Venezuelan technology in the energy sector may prove crucial, as four new prospects for oil exploration are to be opened on the north coast of Cuba. During a five-day trial period
in December 2004, 1,000 tons were extracted from the submarine soil with excellent results. The next months will see the start of ‘experimental production’, to be followed by an evaluation period, and by 2006 production should start in earnest; exploration so far suggests reserves of 100 million barrels. This, together with the guaranteed supply from Venezuela, could help Cuba to overcome the long-term energy crisis suffered as a result of the US blockade and collapse of the former Soviet bloc. Cuban oil production for 2004 was 75,000 barrels a day.
The ALBA agreement must be viewed in the context of a broader attempt to transform Latin American societies, by making them more just, educated and participatory, and by increasing solidarity between them. It is no coincidence that President Chavez should have chosen the third Summit of the Association of Caribbean States in December 2001 to propose the creation of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas. It involves several revolutionary, democratic and indigenous organisations of the Latin American continent. It rejects the blind market policies imposed by imperialism and its financial institutions, setting as its main target ‘to ensure the elimination of social inequalities and promote the quality of the life and effective participation of the peoples in the shaping of their own destiny’. ALBA also encourages economic co-operation rather than competition between the nations involved, in order to combat poverty and preserve cultural identity. Some specific projects include a continental plan to fight illiteracy, a Latin American plan providing free health care and a regional scholarship plan for those who need them, the integrated development of communications and transportation, the creation of a television network, Telesur, to disseminate Latin American news, energy integration through the creation of Petroamerica and the promotion of culture and identity with particular respect for indigenous cultures. It also aims to consolidate regional blocs to struggle for the democratisation and transparency of the UN and its agencies.
These demands cannot be met under capitalist rule, but will bring the oppressed people of Latin America to take an active part in creating their own history, to achieve their ‘second and genuine independence’. Bolivarianism represents the struggle for social transformation and a serious challenge to imperialist domination. It is the spreading of the Cuban ‘Battle of Ideas’ and the Venezuelan ‘Bolivarian Circles’ to the hemispheric level, putting the working class at the front of the movement as active and politically educated leaders, rather than passive victims of their fate. As a Venezuelan woman who was taught to read and write thanks to this programme put it, ‘If the Revolution is lifting me out of ignorance, then I am a revolutionary’.
