More than ever we have to be united for action, says Maduro at ALBA summit

HAVANA, Cuba, Dec 14 (ACN) Nicolás Maduro Moros, President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, said today at the 22nd Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America-People's Trade Agreement (ALBA-TCP) that the nations of the regional bloc must be increasingly united for action.

The union, he added, must be based on revolutionary principles and take into account the rights and needs of the peoples.

Speaking at the Summit, for which the Sixth Extraordinary Session of the National Assembly of People's Power, in its Ninth Legislature, was convened, the President stressed the need to support each other as peoples, "to join hands, to put our shoulders to the wheel".

ALBA must increasingly demonstrate in practice that it is an alliance for development, for peace, equality and progress, he said, adding that they are determined to remain at the forefront.

The Venezuelan president highlighted the achievements of the integration mechanism in the areas of education and public health, which show that the union has a practical sense.

He recalled that ALBA-TCP was born as anti-colonial, anti-imperialist, and it is urgent to resume the momentum of the great projects that have had an impact on the lives of our peoples.

Today we are here, the progressive and revolutionary vanguard of Latin America and the Caribbean, he reaffirmed in the presence of regional leaders such as Army General Raúl Castro Ruz; Miguel Díaz-Canel, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of the Republic; Luis Alberto Arce and Daniel Ortega Saavedra, Presidents of Bolivia and Nicaragua, respectively.

Maduro Moros rejected the internal and external campaigns that attempt to destabilize the countries of the region, as recently occurred in Bolivia, and highlighted the poise, wisdom, firmness and political capacity of his president.

He recognized the electoral victory in Dominica despite the threats and the attempt to boycott the internal election process; he repudiated the campaigns against Nicaragua and the aggressions against Cuba, always ready, firm, setting an example.

Here we are together, united, affirmed the Bolivarian President, who recalled that 18 years ago Cuba and Venezuela joined their revolutions, peoples and capacities to tell Latin America and the Caribbean that it was necessary to join forces for their equality and definitive liberation.

Before the deputies of the National Assembly of the People's Power of Cuba, he pointed out that the date that marked the beginning of the political alliance was chosen because it was the 10th anniversary of the first meeting between Fidel and Chavez, which took place on December 14, 1994 in Havana.

Roosevelt Skerrit, Ralph Goncalvez and Dickon Mitchell, Prime Ministers of Dominica, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Grenada; Chet Greene, Foreign Affairs Minister of Antigua and Barbuda; and Philip J. Pierre, Minister of Finance of St. Lucia are attending the summit.