ALBA

File:Chavez141610-2.jpg, founder of ALBA]]

The agreement was proposed by the government of Venezuela, led by Hugo Chávez{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/18/opinion/arana-latin-americas-go-to-hero.html?mcubz=1|title=Opinion – Bolívar, Latin America's Go-To Hero|first=Marie|last=Arana|newspaper=The New York Times|date=18 April 2013|access-date=24 August 2018}} as an alternative to the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA or ALCA in Spanish, an agreement proposed by the United States), which never materialized.{{citation needed|date=July 2014}}

This Cuba–Venezuela Agreement,{{cite web|url=http://www.mltoday.com/Pages/NLiberation/Cuba-VenezPact.html/ |title=Cuba-Venezuela Agreement - December 14, 2004 |access-date=2005-12-02 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051104200546/http://www.mltoday.com/Pages/NLiberation/Cuba-VenezPact.html |archive-date=2005-11-04 }} initial Cuba-Venezuela TCP signed on 14 December 2004, by Presidents Chávez and Fidel Castro, was aimed at the exchange of medical and educational resources and petroleum between the two nations. Venezuela began to deliver about 96,000 barrels of oil per day from its state-owned oil company, PDVSA, to Cuba at very favorable prices. In exchange, Cuba sent 20,000 state-employed medical staff and thousands of teachers to Venezuela's poorest states. The agreement also made it possible for Venezuelans to travel to Cuba for specialized medical care, free of charge.{{cite web|url=https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/CubaVenezuela-Alliance-Piccone-Trinkunas.pdf |access-date=5 April 2023|website=brookings.edu|title=The Cuba-Venezuela Alliance: The Beginning of the End? Line|date=June 2014|author1=Ted Piccone |author2=Harold Trinkunas}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j0yqCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA55|title=Latin America Energy Policy and Regulations Handbook Volume 1 Strategic Information and Programs|first=|last=|date=20 March 2009|publisher=Lulu.com|isbn=9781438728360|access-date=24 August 2018|via=Google Books}}{{self-published source|date=December 2020}}{{self-published inline|date=February 2020}}

When it was launched in 2004, ALBA had only two member states, Venezuela and Cuba.Monthly Review, 2 July 2008, [http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/hattingh070208.html ALBA: Creating a Regional Alternative to Neo-liberalism?] Subsequently, a number of other Latin American and Caribbean nations entered into this 'Peoples' Trade Agreement' (Spanish: Tratado de Comercio de los Pueblos, or TCP), which aims to implement the principles of ALBA. Bolivia under Evo Morales joined in 2006, Nicaragua under Daniel Ortega in 2007, and Ecuador under Rafael Correa in 2009. Honduras, under Manuel Zelaya, joined in 2008, but withdrew in 2010 after the 2009 Honduran coup d'état.{{Cite web|url=https://www.americasquarterly.org/blog/honduran-congress-approves-withdrawal-from-alba/|title=Honduran Congress Approves Withdrawal From ALBA - Americas Quarterly|accessdate=5 April 2023}} The Caribbean nations Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Saint Lucia also joined.{{Cite web|url = https://repeatingislands.com/2009/06/26/two-more-caribbean-nations-join-alba/|title = Two more Caribbean Nations join ALBA|date = 26 June 2009|access-date = 8 April 2021|archive-date = 26 February 2023|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230226191521/https://repeatingislands.com/2009/06/26/two-more-caribbean-nations-join-alba/|url-status = dead}}

Jamaica, at the invitation of Chávez,{{cite web|url=http://cubarevolucion.blogspot.com/2007/03/chvez-invita-jamaica-sumarse-al-alba.html|title=Cuba Revolución: Chávez invita a Jamaica a sumarse al ALBA|access-date=28 June 2016}} and Mexico, at the invitation of Ortega,{{cite web|url=http://www.elnuevodiario.com.ni/|title=El Nuevo Diario|first=El Nuevo|last=Diario|access-date=28 June 2016|archive-date=8 September 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080908123539/http://www.elnuevodiario.com.ni/|url-status=dead}} were invited to join the ALBA countries. Chávez also invited the countries of Central America to join ALBA,{{cite web|url=http://www.aporrea.org/venezuelaexterior/n98299.html|title=Chávez invitó a toda Centroamérica a unirse al ALBA|first=Agencia Bolivariana de Noticias|last=(ABN)|date=20 July 2007 |access-date=28 June 2016}} and invited Argentina to use SUCRE.{{cite web|url=http://www.radiolaprimerisima.com/noticias/alba/53080|title=Chávez invita a Argentina a sumarse a la moneda virtual sucre – Radio La Primerísima|access-date=28 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160527165259/http://www.radiolaprimerisima.com/noticias/alba/53080|archive-date=2016-05-27|url-status=dead}} In the 11th Summit of ALBA in February 2012, Suriname, Saint Lucia and Haiti requested admission to the organization. Haiti was granted the special status of permanent member and the other two countries were named special members, while awaiting their full incorporation.

In July 2013, Chávez was honored posthumously by the nine member countries of the group and special guests Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil, Suriname, Guyana and Haiti at the group's 12th Presidential Summit in Guayaquil, Ecuador.{{cite web|url=http://www.americasquarterly.org/content/twelfth-alba-presidential-summit-takes-place-ecuador|title=Twelfth ALBA Presidential Summit Takes Place in Ecuador|website=americasquarterly.org|access-date=24 August 2018}}

In December 2014, Grenada and Saint Kitts and Nevis were accepted as full members during the 13th Summit of the Alliance, which occurred in Havana, Cuba.{{Cite web|url=https://www.nowgrenada.com/2014/12/grenada-joins-alba/|title=Grenada Joins ALBA | NOW Grenada|date=December 15, 2014|website=www.nowgrenada.com}}

Ecuador withdrew from ALBA in August 2018.{{Cite web|url=https://apnews.com/6a7d8ed8738a475d8b6c276ffa0b761e|title=Ecuador leaves Venezuelan-run regional alliance|agency=Associated Press|date=2018-08-24|website=AP NEWS|access-date=2018-12-18}} Bolivia's interim government withdrew in November 2019 during the political crisis,{{Cite web|url=https://www.dw.com/es/bolivia-rompe-relaciones-con-venezuela-y-se-retira-de-la-alianza-bolivariana-alba/a-51271927|title=Bolivia rompe relaciones con Venezuela y se retira de la Alianza Bolivariana ALBA {{!}} DW {{!}} 15.11.2019|date=15 November 2019|website=Deutsche Welle|language=es-ES|access-date=2019-11-16}} but the newly elected government of Luis Arce rejoined following the 2020 Bolivian general election.{{cite web|url=https://www.france24.com/es/minuto-a-minuto/20201120-bolivia-reanuda-su-participaci%C3%B3n-en-unasur-celac-y-alba|title=Bolivia reanuda su participación en Unasur, Celac y Alba|date=2020-11-20|access-date=2020-11-21|publisher=France 24}}{{Cite web|url=https://peoplesdispatch.org/2020/12/14/alba-tcp-member-countries-celebrate-16-years-of-regional-integration/|title=ALBA-TCP member countries celebrate 16 years of regional integration|date=14 December 2020}}

Amid the international isolation Russia is facing due to the invasion of Ukraine, ALBA invited Russia to participate at the 2023 ALBA Games.{{Cite web|url=https://www.sport-express.ru/others/reviews/gde-sorevnuetsya-rossiya-v-usloviyah-izolyacii-chto-takoe-igry-bolivarianskogo-alyansa-kuda-ee-priglasili-2041301/|title=Россию пригласили на самые антиамериканские старты мира. Что это такое?|date=23 February 2023|website=sport-express.ru|access-date=5 April 2023|language=ru}}

In October 2009, ALBA leaders agreed at a summit in Bolivia to create a virtual currency, named the SUCRE. "The document is approved," said Bolivian President Evo Morales, the summit host. President of Venezuela Hugo Chávez announced "The sucre [is] an autonomous and sovereign monetary system that will be agreed upon today so that it can be implemented in 2010."{{cite web|url=http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2009/10/2009101712255748516.html|title=Bolivia summit adopts new currency|access-date=28 June 2016}} As of 2015, the virtual currency is being used to compensate trade between Bolivia, Cuba, Nicaragua, and especially Ecuador and Venezuela.

{{main|Member states of ALBA}}

{{unreferenced section|date=December 2014}}

{{Supranational American Bodies|size=400px|align=right}}

File:XIV cumbre del ALBA-TCP.jpg

Based on the earlier San José Accords (1980) and Caracas Energy Accords (2000) between Venezuela and a number of Caribbean states, Petrocaribe was founded in 2005 to facilitate oil trade under a concessionary financial agreement. The initiative has provided the Caribbean member states with important hydrocarbon resources, which many do not possess on their territories, in exchange for services and goods. In the case of Cuba, a nation largely deprived of oil since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, Petrocaribe has provided oil in exchange for medical doctors.{{cite journal |doi=10.1016/j.polgeo.2019.04.006 |title=On PetroCaribe: Petropolitics, Energopower, and Post-Neoliberal Development in the Caribbean Energy Region |journal=Political Geography |volume=72 |pages=124–133 |year=2019 |last1=Cederlöf |first1=Gustav |last2=Kingsbury |first2= Donald V. |s2cid=164598358 |url=https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/on-petrocaribe(3934d218-c9cd-4c0d-8559-fda53ad6b4d0).html |url-access=subscription }}

As part of Cuba's efforts to spread its Energy Revolution campaign through ALBA, Cuban social workers traveled to 11 countries in the Caribbean and Latin America to help develop energy efficiency projects in those countries.{{Cite book |last=Yaffee |first=Helen |title=We Are Cuba! How a Revolutionary People Have Survived in a Post-Soviet World |date=2020 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-23003-1 |edition=hardcover |location=USA}}{{Rp|page=294}}

Launched in 2005, TeleSUR is a media network that provides news and current affairs broadcasts throughout the ALBA bloc. The network has an internet based television channel and is a cooperative effort between the governments of Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua.

PETROSUR is an inter-governmental energy alliance between Venezuelan PDVSA, Argentinean YPF, and Brazilian Petrobras nationalized oil companies. The goal of this initiative is to provide funding for social welfare programs within these nations.{{Citation needed|date=February 2017}}

In July 2018, President Lenín Moreno of Ecuador distanced himself from ALBA, stating that the organization "has not worked for a while."{{Cite web|url=http://www.laprensalara.com.ve/?p=423454|title=Lenin Moreno ordenó a la UNASUR desalojar edificio en Ecuador|website=La Prensa|language=es-VE|access-date=2018-07-07}} In August 2018, Ecuador officially withdrew from ALBA.{{citation needed|date=August 2024}}

Karen Longaric, appointed as foreign minister by Jeanine Áñez's interim government, announced the formal departure of the country from ALBA in November 2019 over "interference" in Bolivia's political crisis.{{Cite web|url=https://latinoamericapiensa.com/la-politica-internacional-de-anez-anuncio-la-salida-de-bolivia-del-alba-de-la-unasur-y-rompio-relaciones-con-venezuela/21065/|title=La política internacional de Añez: anunció la salida de Bolivia del Alba, de la Unasur y rompió relaciones con Venezuela|language=es|website=Latinomerica Piensa|date=15 November 2019}} Bolivia remained in ALBA after the Áñez government was defeated in the 2020 Bolivian general election.{{citation needed|date=August 2024}}

{{columns-list |colwidth=30em|

• Andean Community of Nations
• Association of Caribbean States
• Axis of Resistance
• Belt and Road Initiative
• CARIFORUM
• Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC)
• Copenhagen Accord
• CSTO
• Eurasian Economic Union
• Foro de São Paulo
• International trade
• Latin American integration
• Lima Group
• Mercosur
• Non Aligned Movement
• Pacific Alliance
• PetroCaribe
• Pink tide
• Social security
• SUCRE
• Trade bloc
• Union of South American Nations
• Warsaw Pact
• Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA or ALCA)
• Latin American Free Trade Agreement
• North American Free Trade Agreement

}}

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• {{in lang|en}} {{Official website|https://www.albatcp.org/en/}}
• {{in lang|es}} {{Official website|https://www.albatcp.org/}}
• {{in lang|es}} [https://portalalba.org/ Portal ALBA]

{{Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA)}}

{{Pan-Americanism}}

{{Hugo Chávez}}

{{Chávez presidency}}

{{UNFCCC negotiating groups}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Bolivarian Revolution

Category:International organizations based in the Americas

Category:Politics of South America

Category:Trade blocs

Category:Hugo Chávez

Category:Anti-Americanism

Category:Intergovernmental organizations established by treaty

Category:Organizations established in 2004