Cuba marks 19 years of ALBA-TCP's creation

HAVANA, Cuba, Dec 14 (ACN) Miguel Diaz-Canel, first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and president of the country, celebrated today the 19th anniversary of the creation of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America-People's Trade Agreement (ALBA-TCP).

We celebrate with joy 19 years of ALBA-TCP, a mechanism of emancipatory nature and a space recognized for the promotion of peace, unity, solidarity and cooperation, said the president on X.

In his message, Diaz-Canel expressed the commitment of this organization, founded on the initiative of the leaders of Cuba and Venezuela, Fidel Castro and Hugo Chávez, respectively, to continue working for the welfare and integration of people.

Regarding the date, Manuel Marrero Cruz, Cuban Prime Minister, recalled on X the legacy of Fidel and Chavez, and assured that with the creation of this international mechanism in 2004, a before and after was achieved in Latin America and the Caribbean.

On the same social network, Roberto Morales Ojeda, Secretary of Organization of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba, evoked the words of President Diaz-Canel when he expressed: "Fidel and Chavez were visiting the future when they coincided to create ALBA".

Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla, Cuban foreign minister, pointed out that this new anniversary comes with a renewed commitment to work for more achievements and preserve the humanist and social essence of this alliance.

The Bolivarian Alliance for the People of Our America-People's Trade Agreement is a platform for the integration of Latin American and Caribbean countries that emphasizes solidarity, complementarity, justice and cooperation.

It was born on December 14, 2004 through an agreement signed between Venezuela and Cuba proposing an independent development model with priority on regional complementarity to promote the development of all and strengthen cooperation through mutual respect and solidarity.

In April 2006, ALBA, until then known as the Bolivarian Alternative for Latin America and the Caribbean, was enriched with the proposal of the Peoples' Trade Agreement (PTA), an instrument of solidarity and complementary exchange between countries, to benefit the peoples as opposed to the Free Trade Agreements.

The heads of state and government of the member countries decided in June 2009 that ALBA-TCP would be called the Bolivarian Alliance for the People of Our America-People's Trade Agreement.