The XXIV Summit of Heads of State and Government of this integrationist platform began this Saturday in the Venezuelan capital. On the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of the creation of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America-People's Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP)
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00:00Thank you, Mr. President.
00:04I want to recognize the President of the Republic
00:10of Venezuela and all the other Presidents of Cuba,
00:16of Nicaragua, and of Bolivia.
00:19Colleagues, Prime Ministers, Heads of Delegations,
00:22ladies and gentlemen, friends of all, good evening.
00:28I first want to congratulate President Maduro
00:33on his re-election in July.
00:36And to remind him that I was one of the first leaders
00:47in the world who sent congratulatory messages to him,
00:51having received the publication from the election authorities
00:58in Venezuela.
01:00And we do recognize you as the constitutionally elected
01:04President of the Bolivian Republic of Venezuela.
01:09And we wish you all the best as you take up another term
01:16on January 10, 2025.
01:21President Maduro, I've known you for about 18 or so years.
01:28And I've seen you serve President Chavez.
01:33And you served President Chavez dutifully, respectfully,
01:38and with great commitment and love.
01:42What I admire about you even more is that having assumed
01:47the office of President of Venezuela,
01:50you have maintained dutifully the mandate of President Chavez
01:56to the people of Venezuela and the revolution of Venezuela.
02:02You are a man of high integrity, commitment,
02:10and love for your people.
02:12And I salute you as the President of Venezuela
02:17and the Bolivian revolution.
02:20And rest assured you have my absolute solidarity, respect,
02:26friendship, and love as you maneuver the many challenges
02:32imposed upon you and your people by external forces.
02:37But we shall prevail, and you shall prevail,
02:40and the people of Venezuela shall prevail over adversity.
02:44Rest assured that you are not alone,
02:55and the people of Venezuela are not alone.
02:59I want also to take this opportunity to reaffirm
03:05our undying and unwavering solidarity
03:09with the government and people of Cuba,
03:17a nation that has played an enormous role
03:23in global solidarity and assisted so many nations
03:30in its efforts towards liberalization and independence.
03:34A heroic people, a brave people,
03:39and a people whom we have the highest regard for and love for.
03:46And we will always lend our voice.
03:50We shall never cease or desist from lending our voice
03:54to calling on the United States of America
03:57to end this unjust blockade against the people of Cuba.
04:01And I want to say to all of us
04:05that we must never be weary of making that call
04:09because we know that one day the Cuban people will triumph,
04:15and we know that justice will triumph over injustice,
04:19and we continue to stand in total solidarity
04:22with the government and people of Cuba.
04:25And of course we have with us our friends
04:29from the state of Palestine.
04:32My dear brother, I want to say to you
04:34that you are here among friends
04:37in the Caribbean and Latin America.
04:40We stand in absolute solidarity with the people of Palestine.
04:44You have taught all of us what resilience means,
04:55what determination means,
04:58and what dignity means.
05:01And in the face of so many decades of adversity,
05:04you have maintained the dignity of your people.
05:08And for that and many other reasons,
05:10we stand in absolute solidarity.
05:12And one day you shall sit among us,
05:15recognized by the entire world,
05:17as a truly independent state, the state of Palestine.
05:23Today we gather in Caracas, Venezuela,
05:27to observe the 20th anniversary of ALBA.
05:34I believe that the world owes Cuba and Venezuela
05:40a huge debt of gratitude for giving to the world
05:46two leaders, leaders who were ahead of their time,
05:53Commander Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez,
06:01both of whom I had the distinct pleasure as a young man
06:10to work with and to learn from.
06:16And I believe that we have a duty and obligation
06:19to carry on their legacy,
06:21carry on their work,
06:23carry on their efforts towards bringing dignity
06:27to every single citizen in this world
06:32and to ensure that every citizen in this world
06:35can enjoy the bounties of this world.
06:40And what we have seen ALBA do
06:46and many other cooperation frameworks
06:50which were devised by these two distinguished world leaders,
06:57we never thought, but many people thought
06:59that we would never be here celebrating 20 years.
07:02But ALBA has the...
07:06because ALBA was created out of a genuine desire
07:11towards addressing many of the injustices
07:14that the world confronted.
07:17And there is no other entity in this world
07:20that has such a mandate.
07:23We go to many international organizations
07:25and I remember President Chavez and President Castro saying,
07:29look, we do not want ALBA to be like any other organization.
07:33All of its note-taking and reading of minutes
07:36and long speeches, no.
07:39It is supposed to be a pragmatic
07:41and practical cooperation agreement
07:44that is results-oriented,
07:47addressing the issues confronting the citizens
07:50not only our space, but the global space.
07:53And ALBA has remained true to those ideals.
08:00I recall being asked to come to Cuba
08:05to have a meeting with President Chavez
08:08and President Castro.
08:14And I happened to come over a document.
08:17I am not a Spanish-speaking person,
08:19but I could understand some of the words in the document.
08:24And I recognized that this was an unprecedented document
08:30speaking about the cooperation between Cuba and Venezuela.
08:38And I remember saying to President Chavez
08:40and President Castro,
08:43how do I participate in this agreement?
08:48Speaking about fair trade,
08:51speaking about complementarity and working together.
08:56Ensuring that all of our people could be elevated
09:00and could have a decent life.
09:03And I am happy that eventually
09:06I was able to sign on behalf of my country, Dominica,
09:10and become a member of ALBA.
09:14We have never regretted that decision.
09:20And I say to everyone today
09:24that our decision is much stronger than it was then.
09:30Because it is absolutely important
09:35that the movement, the progressive movement,
09:39and when people talk about that movement,
09:43there are some that want to interpret it as anti-something.
09:49And the progressive movement is about injustices
09:53and make sure that people can live with dignity and respect.
09:58Respecting race, spirituality,
10:02and that people have access to a decent life with education,
10:07health, with jobs, where no discrimination is present.
10:14That's what progressive movements are.
10:18And that's what we are working on in the ALBA framework.
10:22And it is absolutely important
10:25that we maintain loyalty to the principles of ALBA
10:31because the world needs unity much more today than ever before.
10:36Among our countries.
10:40And, of course, it's not about intervening
10:44in political affairs of other countries,
10:47but it is important that we maintain unity
10:50in our political structures
10:53because there will always be attempts from abroad
10:57and even from inside to generate problems that do not exist.
11:01To generate disunity because in reality
11:06many don't want to see positive things
11:10that ALBA has achieved and continues to do,
11:14and that's why they want to separate our countries.
11:18For those who have a progressive side of life,
11:23we have to remain united.
11:26We have to overcome challenges working together,
11:30not only as heads of state and government,
11:34but also in our own political structures, in our countries,
11:39because we need that unity of our nations
11:43to make progress in ALBA
11:47and bring that progress to other groups, other regions.
11:56Twenty years later we are here
12:00and I'm committed to guarantee
12:03the legacy of Chavez and Fidel Castro
12:11to continue showing light in darkness
12:15and bring hope for those who don't want.
12:19That's our commitment.
12:21I don't want to talk too much, President.
12:24I want to say to you and all of you
12:28that you have our solidarity.
12:32And Dominica,
12:43we in the South, we have different forums.
12:48In the South we need leaders
12:52who are not negotiating principles.
12:56We cannot negotiate principles.
12:59We negotiate words.
13:02We need leaders that can maintain standing against injustice.
13:08There are too many leaders in this world
13:11that compromise their philosophical sides in life
13:16because they consider
13:20what others could do.
13:22With respect to that, we in the South,
13:25we need not compromise our values,
13:32the things that we have to fight for.
13:36We owe it to the following generations
13:39to give them a better world
13:42in which we received inheritance.
13:50Thank you, Mr. President.
13:52It is a pleasure to come to Venezuela.
13:55For me, Venezuela
13:59is as being a part of Dominica.
14:03There are no borders, no differences.
14:08Here we are among families and friends.
14:13And the same happens in the Alba family.
14:15Every time I go to Nicaragua, Bolivia, Cuba, and Honduras,
14:19San Vicente, Antigua, San Quintana Roo,
14:25we are all the same.
14:26We are a family, a united family,
14:29fighting against injustice
14:34to give hope to people,
14:36to eliminate poverty once and for all.
14:39Long live the legacy of Chavez and Fidel Castro.
14:45Thank you very much.
14:50And, Mr. President,
14:57with respect to the request of the President of Bolivia,
15:03I also want to leave early because I have a flight to take.
15:15I ask for your permission.
15:19Negado.
15:22Muy bien, gracias.