[Marxism] ALBA members decline to sign 'Americas Summit' declaration

["Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Summit of the Americas Concludes with Controversial Declaration

HAVANA, Cuba, April 19 (acn) The 5th Summit of the Americas concluded today
in Port of Spain, Trindidad-Tobago, with a controversial final declaration,
which was rejected by several nations of the western hemisphere that
described it as insufficient and unacceptable.

The document was considered as approved although it lacked the support of
several countries including those nations that make up the Bolivarian
Alternative for Our Americas (ALBA).

During the closing ceremony, Trinidad-Tobago´s Prime Minister Patrick
Manning said that the declaration has gaps due to the fact that the document
had been submitted to negotiations by technocrats for the past year and a
half of two years. By that time the world situation was different from
today´s, said Manning and went on to explain that due to that reason the
document does not reflect the current hemispheric scenario.

The final declaration of the summit, which will be added some points, is in
favor of promoting the development of the private sector. In that direction,
the document turns to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the
Inter-American Development Bank and other regional credit institutions to
step up efforts aimed at expanding and developing the private business
sector.

The objective stated by the declaration is that by 2012, credit lines
destined to the micro, small and medium enterprises double and the number of
companies with access to credit triple.

The document also calls for the production and exploitation of current
biological fuels and those of the next generation, including sugar
derivatives. The declaration promotes the production of bio-fuels of second
generation, which are even more advanced, so that they do not pose any
direct competition for land, water or fertilizers to other agricultural
products.

Despite its gaps, the declaration admits the prevalence of deep and
persistent inequalities, particularly in the fields of education, income
levels, health care, nutrition, violence and crime and access to basic
services. It also admits the prevalence of exclusion against the most
vulnerable sectors of society, including women, children, indigenous people
and the poor.

Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa said that the draft declaration ?does not
reflect the economic crisis we are experiencing, which is not a temporary
crisis but a crisis of the capitalist system, and that the document suggests
solutions by legitimizing those responsible for the crisis, for instance,
the International Monetary Fund.?

For Correa, the alternatives are going to the hands of the gravediggers
instead of the hands of those who want to revive the world, and he labeled
the document as ?light.?

?We share a firm position and I do not think we have time now to change the
content of the document, and since we do not have time for that we will not
sign it, I can speak for myself and for the ALBA countries,? said Venezuelan
President Hugo Chavez.

The Bolivarian Alternative for Our Americas regional integration initiative,
known by its Spanish acronyms ALBA, is made up of Venezuela, Nicaragua,
Bolivia, Honduras, Cuba, Dominica and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

The ALBA countries argue that the declaration does not give any response to
the world economic crisis, despite the fact that it is the major challenge
that has faced humanity in decades and the most serious threat of our times
for the wellbeing of the nations. They also say that the declaration
excludes Cuba without saying a word about the general consensus prevailing
in the region against the US economic blockade of the Caribbean nation and
the US attempts to isolate Cuba.



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