Our correspondents in Caracas Belen de los Santos and Garfield Burford bring us a summary and updates on the XXIV ALBA-TCP Summit.
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00:00And in this context we contact both our special envoys to Caracas, Venezuela in the framework of
00:06Belén de los Santos and Garfield Burford. Hi both of you, how are you and what can you share with us?
00:20Good evening to you Alejandra, thank you so much for joining us right here live in Caracas,
00:25Venezuela. Of course the delegates are just emerging. My name is Garfield Burford and with me
00:30is Belén de los Santos and the 24th summit of the ALBA-TCP has just concluded. The leaders are even
00:38just leaving the room as we speak. Both the heads of government and states, member of the ALBA
00:44countries, also those states that have been represented in this council as well and also
00:50the regional leaders from social organizations that have come here to this very important summit
00:55and also the 20th anniversary of the mechanism. Absolutely Belén, it is a fantastic, it has been
01:03hours of discussions but it has been a crucial summit, a landmark summit here and what we're
01:08seeing now of course just ending, in fact you've just joined us here in Caracas as the meeting has
01:14just ended within the last few minutes. As I said, as Belén said, indicating that the heads of state
01:22and government and their delegations are leaving the room. So if you see all the movement behind us
01:28that's what's happening as well. Let's go over Belén some of the key points that were discussed.
01:34Perhaps we can reduce it to matters of positions and policy proposals. Let's start off with the
01:40positions Alejandro would have mentioned some of them but just to reiterate for our audiences
01:45joining us across the region and beyond. One of those positions was at the state of Palestine.
01:50Exactly and well maybe the first thing that we have to say to really bring what has happened
01:55here today is that the ALBA mechanism has now one more guest member, a permanent member as a guest
02:03and that is the state of Palestine. So all the leaders both in the activities before and during
02:08the summit have been mentioning that Palestine is of course one of the crucial topics right now
02:14really to understand the geopolitics of this present world. Just the advance of imperialism
02:19is hitting all over the global south that Palestine is its epicenter and that position
02:25against the genocide, against the ongoing genocide in Palestine in solidarity with the people of
02:30Palestine has been a constant, a permanent announcement from all the leaders and this
02:35summit has the big announcement that Palestine becomes in this way a guest member of the ALBA
02:41in a way of showing the permanent solidarity of the mechanism with the state of Palestine.
02:47This is a huge development, a momentous development Alejandro for the state of Palestine of course
02:53which has been beleaguered and embattled with what's taking place now in the Middle East,
02:57an ongoing humanitarian crisis and now ALBA showing its strong support and solidarity not
03:03just in words but in deeds Belen because what they have done here at the ALBA 24th summit, 20
03:10years marking the 20th anniversary of the grouping is to make Palestine, the state of Palestine
03:15giving it a permanent guest status here among the grouping of course 10 permanent member states
03:22but of course the state of Palestine now getting that backing that support which will be crucial
03:27as well. Another key geopolitical issue Belen has was in relation to Haiti as well.
03:33Exactly, one of the Caribbean nation that has representation in Palestine in the ALBA summit
03:39even if it's not a member country so this was one of the crucial topics of as well the expression
03:45of solidarity with Haiti with the situation that the Haitian people is going through. President
03:51Maduro was saying how whenever he's been in Haiti he knows that the Haitian people love the ALBA
03:57countries, have a big passion for these countries and for the mechanism as well, a mechanism that
04:02ALBA has shown its solidarity with Haiti numerous times in history and of course Haiti is going,
04:08the Haitian people are going through a very difficult time right now, it's one of the
04:13biggest humanitarian crisis so close to us here in the Caribbean and that is one of the things
04:19that was also mentioned throughout the leaders, the necessity to build up mechanisms of cooperation
04:25that really target and help the Haitian people. As we see more of the delegates emerging from
04:31of course the room just within the past few minutes, the meeting here has ended a landmark
04:35summit, the 24th summit of heads of state and government of ALBA-TCP and of course marking
04:41today the 20th anniversary of that famous hug, that hug which was iconic, historic in Havana, Cuba
04:48which laid the foundation and created this grouping which has now grown to 10 members.
04:52As we continue our discussions, Haiti and the state of Palestine, the commonality, the thing that
04:59really brings them together is the fact that the peoples of both areas are suffering immense
05:06challenges. In the case of the state of Palestine, ongoing humanitarian crisis of course from
05:12endless bombardment from the state of Israel and of course over 40,000 people dead in Gaza
05:20and of course they continue to endure hardships in terms of hunger and that is
05:26absolutely ongoing plus the threat of continuing threat of diseases as well so it's a significant
05:32challenge. It is almost apocalyptic in terms of the crisis that the people of the
05:38state of Palestine are facing in Gaza and of course in Haiti as well the gangs continue to
05:43dominate Port-au-Prince and its environs causing displacement, causing hunger, malnutrition and so
05:50the peoples of both areas, the state of Palestine and Haiti going through an immense challenge and
05:55part of the thrust, part of the focus of the ALBA-TCP grouping is the showing solidarity
06:01with marginalized peoples, peoples who have been who have been facing the challenge from
06:06what ALBA-TCP considers to be the hegemony of the West and imperialism and the
06:13and they essentially are showing their strong support for both the state of Palestine and Haiti.
06:18Exactly and if you will, as you were saying, both peoples, both the state of Palestine and also
06:24Haiti are suffering the consequence of this world in a state in which the hegemony and also the
06:30advance of imperialism are leaving such great damages and you were talking about the number
06:36of casualties, we could also go over the number of displaced for example in Haiti and also among
06:42the positions that the leaders of the ALBA-TCP council just met and just have positioned themselves
06:49also regarding the unilateral coercive sanctions that are also another way in which imperialist
06:55powers are targeting and influencing the peoples of the world, specifically some countries that
07:02are member countries to the ALBA-TCP that is for example
07:09of the bloc against the unilateral
07:11coercive sanctions that were among the debates here in the summit.
07:21And ALBA-TCP raising its voice letting its position be heard and by the way as we reported
07:26yesterday we heard from the foreign minister of Venezuela Ivan Gil who says ALBA-TCP must
07:32position itself as a powerful actor in the geopolitical space what with the uncertainty
07:36in the geopolitical space and as Belen indicated ALBA-TCP letting its voice be heard in the area
07:42of denouncing condemning the sanctions which have been imposed on Cuba Venezuela and Nicaragua
07:48what ALBA-TCP sees as unilateral coercive measures some sort of action in the part of these countries
07:56according to ALBA-TCP there must be non-interference in the internal affairs of countries and it has
08:02made this call very strongly as well Belen in relation to Cuba not just the call for a removal
08:08of the sanctions and a lifting of the embargo but the president of Cuba Miguel Diaz-Canel
08:14indicating very strongly that the sponsor the state sponsor of terrorism label which
08:19has been put on Cuba has been deleterious it has been damaging to the Cuban people
08:24and he's called again very very strongly for that label as a state sponsor of terrorism
08:29to be removed immediately. Exactly let's recall that the placing of Cuba in the state sponsoring
08:36of terrorism list has been one of the things that added to the challenges and to the embargo that
08:42the Cuban people are facing and that this comes just days after the US Secretary of State Antony
08:48Blinken has reinstated that he is that the administration is not going to change the status
08:53just before the office turns into a new Trump administration in January so there are no news
09:01over in that front and in that context is that the ALBA-TCP block is reinstating once again
09:08that that well that placing on that list makes no sense according to just the basic information
09:15that is known worldwide and that is just another way of targeting the people of Cuba in this case
09:21and it really affects an already challenged economy. Absolutely and as we stay as we stay on
09:27the issue of positions which have been arrived at here are Belen let's look at the fact that
09:31Dr. Ralph Gonzalez one of the elder statesmen here he's been in office in Saint Vincent of the
09:35Grenadines as Prime Minister for now for almost 24 years since 2001 so he's seen quite a bit
09:43over that period of time over two decades in the position of Prime Minister and he says
09:48that looking at the shifting political signs and the shifting geopolitics that he's seen over that
09:53period he says what with a new president or President Trump going back into the White House
09:59in January there is a need for perhaps what he says is a responsible dialogue between the United
10:05States and countries of the region to look at how do they get along on the matter of the Trump
10:10presidency the second Trump presidency coming up next month at Belen there was also the point
10:15from Prime Minister of Antigua Barbara Gaston Brown who says with a threat of President-elect
10:20Trump that he will impose fresh sanctions tariffs on goods coming from and Mexico and Canada that
10:27could lead to a trade war and that could push the prices for not only American consumers but
10:32for consumers in the Caribbean and Latin America as well and so he says why that what is crucial
10:38is for there to be even more functional cooperation within the countries of ALBA and then let's
10:43move on onto the issues of the policy positions as a result of how does ALBA ensure that it
10:49positions itself to make sure that it can be of better practical benefit to its members one of
10:55them is in relation to AgroALBA exactly so as we were saying all of these consequences that we were
11:03saying has led to the idea that different policies were being reinstated by ALBA we've been
11:10saying this throughout the week that this 20th anniversary is not only just the anniversary but
11:15also a relaunching of the mechanism and that comes with the reinstating and rebuilding of
11:21different mechanisms of cooperation to overcome those challenges that they have been positioning
11:26them against so for example AgroALBA the idea of building a cooperation mechanism that fosters
11:34and helps with food sovereignty along the region of the ALBA member countries and also
11:40aligned states also for example Petro Caribe a mechanism designed to foster a joint production
11:47of oil and also help with the energy crisis such a vital issue at this moment as well
11:54so for example tourism was also one of the mentioned factors absolutely so there is a look
12:02at ALBA TCP addressing the issue of food security through AgroALBA energy security as Belen mentioned
12:08through of course a joint oil production agreements of course within the
12:13membership of ALBA TCP there's also push as Belen said to have greater functional cooperation
12:20on tourism because it is one of those untapped areas perhaps that could be looked at if there
12:24is greater coordination collaboration among the 10 member states of ALBA there could be a push
12:29towards trying to turbocharge trying to grow the tourism product of the member states bringing
12:36Latin America and the Caribbean together in a functional way through tourism there's also
12:41mentioned as well Belen in relation to how science and technology can be used especially
12:46as it relates to artificial intelligence and social media exactly so that has been one of
12:51the key points throughout the past month and that President Maduro addressed it as the possibility
12:56that the ALBA countries can build its own networks its own artificial intelligence its own sovereignty
13:02in terms of science and technology as well so basically the summit was about the rebuilding
13:09of ALBA the relaunching of these mechanisms and really understanding this geopolitical standpoint
13:15as a moment a window of opportunity President Maduro called it a window of opportunity into a
13:20world that is no longer dominated by just one hegemony but it goes into a multipolar world
13:27and that means that mechanisms and integration cooperation mechanisms such as ALBA
13:32gain strength and gain cooperation strategies to overcome what were the impositions of just the
13:38imperialist powers so in that sense these mechanisms that we were just mentioning well
13:45they trail the way to that path absolutely as we wrap up and head back over to studio let's also
13:51tell you very very quickly as well that President Nicolas Maduro is getting very strong support as
13:56well from ALBA member states they may declare that there's only one president duly elected
14:01of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and that is Nicolas Maduro Mara's Prime Minister Gaston Brown
14:05of Antigua Bermuda making that absolutely clear he says that he in addition to Dominica's Prime
14:10Minister Roosevelt's Kerry making it clear that they support strongly the presidency of Nicolas
14:15Maduro Mara. I'm Garfield Burford from Caracas in Venezuela for Telesur. I'm Belen de los Santos we go back to you.
14:21Thank you, thank you very much Bel and Garfield for your coverage and the overview of this paramount
14:28event. We were listening to our special envoys to the summit Belen de los Santos and Garfield
14:34Burford in the framework of the 24th summit of the ALBA-TCP a key event against the Zionist
14:39genocide taking place in Palestine against the blockades and unilateral sanctions against
14:45the violence shaking up the broader nation of Haiti an event that we are very excited about
14:49the broader nation of Haiti an event that also took place on the 20th anniversary of the creation
14:54of this mechanism and a summit that gathered over 30 leaders of Latin America and the Caribbean.
15:00This is all for the moment stay tuned with Telesur.