The Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America: The Challenges of Social Integration

AbstractThe Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas - re-baptised the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America - came into being in April of 2005 when Venezuela and Cuba signed the Treaty of Commerce of the People. Under this treaty, Caracas began furnishing discounted hydrocarbons to Havana in exchange for medical services. This political and economic organisation is designed to promote regional cooperation in Latin America and the Caribbean.^sup 1^ What social conclusions can be drawn about this institution after five years of existence? What is the real impact of this alliance on the people it touches? This article seeks to establish a global overview of the ALBA's initiatives with particular emphasis placed on two humanitarian social policies: 'Operacion Milagro (Operation Miracle)', whose objective is to provide surgical operations to people suffering from cataracts and other eye diseases, and the Cuban educational programme 'Yo, si puedo (Yes, I can)' aimed at teaching illiterates to read, not only on the South American continent, but also in other parts of the world as well, including Western Europe.^sup 2^Keywords: ALBA, Cuba, Venezuela, cooperation, development, integrationThe Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our AmericaThe idea of an integrative alliance based on cooperation and reciprocity - and not on free trade - dates back to 2001 and the Third Summit of Heads of State of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), at which Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez raised the possibility of an alternative to the Washington Consensus and the FTAA, an alternative inspired by the life and works of Simon Bolivar and Jose Marti. The free trade area promoted by the United States decreed neoliberalism, deregulation and privatisation, policies that limited the rights of states to intervene in their own affairs and plunged Latin America into a serious political, economic and social crisis. On the contrary, what was needed was to place human beings at the centre of these societal projects and to adopt as their primary objective the struggle against poverty and social exclusion. In order to accomplish this, it was seen as imperative to have competent and effective public services. The objective was the creation of a confederation of Latin American and Caribbean states that would realise El Libertador Simon Bolivar's dream of a united Latin America, one capable of emancipating itself from the trusteeship of the United States and thus becoming the master of its own destiny within an increasingly complex international system. Another America was seen as possible, an America capable of aiding the weaker nations to overcome their lag behind the continental powers.The founding declaration of 14 December 2004, between the Presidents of Cuba, Fidel Castro, and Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, formed the foundation of the new organisation:We reaffirm that the cardinal principle by which the ALBA must be guided is the most extensive possible solidarity between the peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean; that it must rest on the thought of Bolivar, Marti, Sucre, O'Higgins, San Martin, Hidalgo, Petion, Morazan, Sandino and many other founding fathers; that there must be no selfish nationalism nor restrictive domestic policies that obstruct the aim of building a Great Homeland in Latin America, the Homeland dreamt of by the heroes of our emancipation struggles.3The final Declaration of the first meeting between Cuba and Venezuela for the implementation of the ALBA treaty reiterated its total rejection of neoliberal ideology:...we fully agree that the ALBA will not become a reality with mercantilist ideas or the selfish interests of business profitability or national benefit to the detriment of other peoples. Only a broad Latin Americanist vision, which acknowledges the impossibility of our countries' developing and being truly independent in an isolated manner, will be capable of achieving what Bolivar called '. …