# ALBA

ALBA or ALBA–TCP, formally the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (Spanish: Alianza Bolivariana para los Pueblos de Nuestra América) or the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America – Peoples' Trade Treaty (Spanish: Alianza Bolivariana para los Pueblos de Nuestra América – Tratado de Comercio de los Pueblos), is an intergovernmental organization based on the idea of political and economic integration of Latin American and Caribbean countries.
Founded initially by Cuba and Venezuela in 2004, it is associated with socialist and social democratic governments wishing to consolidate regional economic integration based on a vision of social welfare, bartering and mutual economic aid. The ten member countries are Antigua and Barbuda, Bolivia, Cuba, Dominica, Grenada, Nicaragua, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Venezuela. Suriname was admitted to ALBA as a guest country at a February 2012 summit.

## History

The agreement was proposed by the government of Venezuela, led by Hugo Chávez 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.
This Cuba–Venezuela Agreement, 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.
When it was launched in 2004, ALBA had only two member states, Venezuela and Cuba. 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. The Caribbean nations Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Saint Lucia also joined.
Jamaica, at the invitation of Chávez, and Mexico, at the invitation of Ortega, were invited to join the ALBA countries. Chávez also invited the countries of Central America to join ALBA, and invited Argentina to use SUCRE. 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.
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.
Ecuador withdrew from ALBA in August 2018. Bolivia's interim government withdrew in November 2019 during the political crisis, but the newly elected government of Luis Arce rejoined following the 2020 Bolivian general election.
Amid the international isolation Russia is facing due to the invasion of Ukraine, ALBA invited Russia to participate at the 2023 ALBA Games.

### Virtual currency

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." As of 2015, the virtual currency is being used to compensate trade between Bolivia, Cuba, Nicaragua, and especially Ecuador and Venezuela.

### Summits of heads of state and government

| Summit | Date | Location | Country | Decisions |
| I Ordinary | 14 December 2004 | Havana | Cuba | Founding summit of ALBA. Cuba-Venezuela Agreement signed by presidents Hugo Chávez and Fidel Castro. |
| II Ordinary | 27–28 April 2005 | Havana | Cuba | Attended by presidents Hugo Chávez and Fidel Castro. |
| III Ordinary | 29 April 2006 | Havana | Cuba | Attended by presidents Hugo Chávez, Fidel Castro and Evo Morales from Bolivia, who joins the group. The TCP is signed. |
| IV Ordinary | 10 January 2007 | Managua | Nicaragua | Meeting coinciding with inauguration as president of Nicaragua of Daniel Ortega, who announces the entry in the bloc as fourth country member. |
| V Ordinary | 28–29 April 2007 | Barquisimeto | Venezuela | |
| VI Ordinary | 24–26 January 2008 | Caracas | Venezuela | Dominica joins the bloc. |
| I Extraordinary | 22 April 2008 | Caracas | Venezuela | |
| II Extraordinary | 25 August 2008 | Tegucigalpa | Honduras | Honduras joins the bloc. |
| III Extraordinary | 26 November 2008 | Caracas | Venezuela | |
| IV Extraordinary | 2 February 2009 | Caracas | Venezuela | Celebration of the tenth anniversary of Bolivarian Revolution. |
| V Extraordinary | 16–17 April 2009 | Cumaná | Venezuela | |
| VI Extraordinary | 24 June 2009 | Maracay | Venezuela | Antigua and Barbuda, Ecuador and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines join the bloc. |
| VII Extraordinary | 29 June 2009 | Managua | Nicaragua | Condemnation of the coup d'état in Honduras and demand of restoration of deposed president Manuel Zelaya. |
| VII Ordinary | 16–17 October 2009 | Cochabamba | Bolivia | The Unified System for Regional Compensation (SUCRE) is adopted. |
| VIII Ordinary | 13–14 December 2009 | Havana | Cuba | Celebration of the fifth anniversary of the bloc. |
| IX Ordinary | 19 April 2010 | Caracas | Venezuela | Honduras had left the group. |
| X Ordinary | 25 June 2010 | Otavalo | Ecuador | |
| XI Ordinary | 4–5 February 2012 | Caracas | Venezuela | |
| XII Ordinary | 30 July 2013 | Guayaquil | Ecuador | Saint Lucia joins the bloc. |
| VIII Extraordinary | 20 October 2014 | Havana | Cuba | Summit to deal with the Ebola crisis. |
| XIII Ordinary | 14 December 2014 | Havana | Cuba | Grenada and Saint Kitts and Nevis join the bloc. Celebration of the tenth anniversary of the bloc. |
| IX Extraordinary | 17 March 2015 | Caracas | Venezuela | |
| XIV Ordinary | 5 March 2017 | Caracas | Venezuela | |
| XV Ordinary | 5 March 2018 | Caracas | Venezuela |
| XVI Ordinary | 14 December 2018 | Havana | Cuba |
| XVII Ordinary | 14 December 2019 | Havana | Cuba | Celebration of the fifteenth anniversary of the bloc. |
| XVIII Ordinary | 14 December 2020 | videoconference | | Celebration of the sixteenth anniversary of the bloc and of the rejoining of Bolivia into it. |
| XIX Ordinary | 24 June 2021 | Caracas | Venezuela | Celebration of the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Carabobo. |
| XX Ordinary | 14 December 2021 | Havana | Cuba |
| XXI Ordinary | 27 May 2022 | Havana | Cuba |
| XXII Ordinary | 14 December 2022 | Havana | Cuba | Celebration of the eighteenth anniversary of the bloc. |
| XXIII Ordinary | 24 April 2024 | Caracas | Venezuela |
| XXIV Ordinary | 14 December 2024 | Caracas | Venezuela | Celebration of the 20th anniversary of the bloc. |

## Membership
### Full members

| Common name | Official name | Join date | Population | Area (km$^2$) | E.E.Z + Area (km$^2$) | GDP PPP (US$ bn) | Capital |
| Antigua and Barbuda | Antigua and Barbuda | 24 June 2009 | 97,118 | 442 | 110,531 | 1.575 | St. John's |
| Bolivia | Plurinational State of Bolivia | 29 April 2006 | 9,119,152 | 1,098,581 | | 50.904 | Sucre |
| Cuba | Republic of Cuba | 14 December 2004 | 11,451,652 | 110,861 | 460,637 | 114.100 | Havana |
| Dominica | Commonwealth of Dominica | 20 January 2008 | 72,660 | 754 | 29,736 | 0.977 | Roseau |
| Grenada | Grenada | 14 December 2014 | 111,454 | 348.5 | 27,770 | 1.467 | St. George's |
| Nicaragua | Republic of Nicaragua | 11 January 2007 | 6,466,199 | 129,495 | 254,254 | 18.878 | Managua |
| Saint Kitts and Nevis | Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis | 14 December 2014 | 54,961 | 261 | 10,235 | 1.087 | Basseterre |
| Saint Lucia | Saint Lucia | 20 July 2013 | 180,870 | 617 | 16,156 | 2.101 | Castries |
| St. Vincent and the Grenadines | Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | 24 June 2009 | 120,000 | 389 | 36,691 | 1.259 | Kingstown |
| Venezuela | Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela | 14 December 2004 | 28,199,825 | 916,445 | 1,387,952 | 374.111 | Caracas |
| ALBA–TCP totals | 10 countries | | 46,166,389 | 1,159,612.5 | 2,333,962 | 515.555 | |

### Observer members

| Common name | Official name | Population | Capital |
| Haiti | Republic of Haiti | 10,847,334 | Port-au-Prince |
| Iran | Islamic Republic of Iran | 81,672,300 | Tehran |

### Former members

| Common name | Official name | Join year | Withdrawal year | Population | Capital |
| Honduras | Republic of Honduras | 2008 | 2010 | 9,112,867 | Tegucigalpa |
| Ecuador | Republic of Ecuador | 2009 | 2018 | 16,385,068 | Quito |
In addition, Suriname is a "special guest member" that intends to become a full member.

## Other ALBA initiatives
### PetroCaribe

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.

### Other energy initiatives

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.$^{:294}$

### TeleSUR

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

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.

## Criticism

In July 2018, President Lenín Moreno of Ecuador distanced himself from ALBA, stating that the organization "has not worked for a while." In August 2018, Ecuador officially withdrew from ALBA.
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. Bolivia remained in ALBA after the Áñez government was defeated in the 2020 Bolivian general election.