zachary harden
Keywords: bolivarian alliance for the peoples of our america | alba |
Links: FOTW homepage | search | disclaimer and copyright | write us | mirrors
Last modified: 2023-06-03 by zachary harden
Keywords: bolivarian alliance for the peoples of our america | alba |
Links: FOTW homepage |
search |
disclaimer and copyright |
write us |
mirrors
![[Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America Flag]](../images/i/int-alba21.gif)
image by Zachary Harden, 27 December 2022
See also:
The Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America
Alianza
Bolivariana para los Pueblos de Nuestra América (Spanish)
ALBA is an
international cooperation organization based on the idea of social, political,
and economic integration between the countries of Latin America and the
Caribbean. It is associated with socialist and social democratic governments and
is an attempt at regional economic integration based on a vision of social
welfare, bartering and mutual economic aid, rather than trade liberalization as
with free trade agreements. ALBA nations are in the process of introducing a new
regional currency, the SUCRE. It is intended to be the common virtual currency
by 2010 and eventually a hard currency. The name initially contained
"Alternative" instead of "Alliance", but was changed on June 24, 2009. ALBA also
means "dawn" in Spanish.
Home page: http://www.alianzabolivariana.org/
Zoltán Horváth, 8 March 2010
It is worth noticing that the ALBA is a reaction to the ALCA (Área de Libre
Comercio de Las Américas, or FTAA in English, Free Trade Area of the Americas),
which "was a proposed agreement to eliminate or reduce the trade barriers among
all countries in the Americas but Cuba. In the last round of negotiations, trade
ministers from 34 countries met in Miami, Florida, United States, in November
2003 to discuss the proposal. The proposed agreement was an extension of the
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between Canada, Mexico and the
United States. Opposing the proposal were Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador,
Dominica, Nicaragua and Honduras, which entered the ALBA (Bolivarian Alternative
for the Americas in English) in response, and Argentina, Chile and Brazil.
A vocal critic of the FTAA is Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez, who has
described it as an "annexation plan" and a "tool of imperialism" for the
exploitation of Latin America. As a counterproposal to this initiative, Chávez
has promoted the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (Alternativa
Bolivariana para las Américas, ALBA), vaguely based on the model of the European
Union, which makes emphasis on energy and infrastructure agreements that are
gradually extended to other areas finally to include the total economic,
political and military integration of the member states. Also, Evo Morales of
Bolivia has referred to the US-backed Free Trade Area of the Americas, as "an
agreement to legalize the colonization of the Americas.
The FTAA missed
the targeted deadline of 2005 as planned. This followed the stalling of useful
negotiations of the World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference of 2005.
Over time, some governments not wanting to lose a chance of hemispheric trade
expansion moved in the direction of establishing a series of bilateral trade
deals.
Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Trade_Area_of_the_Americas
It is
worth noticing that the FTAA never came into force.
Esteban Rivera, 8 March 2010
The updated flag for: ALBA-TCP; c. Nov. 2022; a press release shows the updated logo and flag was presented in June 2021.
William Garrison, 29 November 2022
![[Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America Flag]](../images/i/int-alba.gif)
image by Zoltán Horváth, 8 March 2010
Its flag is white with its emblem. It is a stylized map of South America
formed from a sun and its rays.
Zoltán Horváth, 8 March 2010
