Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America – Peoples' Trade Treaty Alianza Bolivariana para los Pueblos de Nuestra América – Tratado de Comercio de los Pueblos (Spanish) | |
|---|---|
 Emblem | |
_Without_Honduras.svg) | |
| Headquarters | Caracas |
| Official languages |
|
| Member states |
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| Leaders | |
• Secretary General |  Jorge Arreaza[2] |
| Establishment | |
• Cuba–Venezuela Agreement | 14 December 2004 |
• People's Trade Agreement | 29 April 2006 |
| Area | |
• Total | 2,513,337[3] km2 (970,405 sq mi) |
| Population | |
• 2008 estimate | 69,513,221 |
• Density | 27.65/km2 (71.6/sq mi) |
| GDP (PPP) | 2008 estimate |
• Total | $636.481 billion |
• Per capita | $9,156 |
| Currency | |
| Time zone | UTC−4 to−6 |
| Internet TLD | |
Website albatcp.org | |
ALBA orALBA–TCP, formally theBolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (Spanish:Alianza Bolivariana para los Pueblos de Nuestra América) or theBolivarian 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 anintergovernmental organization based on the idea of political and economic integration ofLatin American andCaribbean countries.
Founded initially by Cuba and Venezuela in 2004, it is associated withsocialist andsocial democratic governments wishing to consolidate regional economic integration based on a vision of social welfare,bartering and mutual economic aid. The ten member countries areAntigua and Barbuda,Bolivia,Cuba,Dominica,Grenada,Nicaragua,Saint Kitts and Nevis,Saint Lucia,Saint Vincent and the Grenadines andVenezuela.[4]Suriname was admitted to ALBA as a guest country at a February 2012 summit.[5][6]
The agreement was proposed by thegovernment of Venezuela, led byHugo Chávez[7] as an alternative to theFree Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA or ALCA in Spanish, an agreement proposed by theUnited States), which never materialized.[citation needed]
This Cuba–Venezuela Agreement,[8] signed on 14 December 2004, by Presidents Chávez andFidel Castro, was aimed at the exchange of medical and educational resources andpetroleum 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.[9][10][self-published source?]
When it was launched in 2004, ALBA had only two member states,Venezuela andCuba.[10][11] 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 underEvo Morales joined in 2006,Nicaragua underDaniel Ortega in 2007, andEcuador underRafael Correa in 2009.Honduras, underManuel Zelaya, joined in 2008, but withdrew in 2010 after the2009 Honduran coup d'état.[12] The Caribbean nations Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Saint Lucia also joined.[13]
Jamaica, at the invitation of Chávez,[14] andMexico, at the invitation of Ortega,[15] were invited to join the ALBA countries. Chávez also invited the countries of Central America to join ALBA,[16] and invitedArgentina to use the virtual currencySUCRE for trade transactions.[17] 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.[10]
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.[18]
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.[19]
Ecuador withdrew from ALBA in August 2018.[20]Bolivia's interim government withdrew in November 2019 during thepolitical crisis,[21] but the newly elected government ofLuis Arce rejoined following the2020 Bolivian general election.[22][23]
Amid the international isolation Russia is facing due to theinvasion of Ukraine, ALBA invited Russia to participate at the2023 ALBA Games.[24]
Following the2025 Bolivian general election which sawRodrigo Paz Pereira elected as president, Bolivia was suspended by ALBA.[25]
In October 2009, ALBA leaders agreed at a summit in Bolivia to create a virtual currency, named theSUCRE. "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."[26] As of 2015, the virtual currency is being used to compensate trade between Bolivia, Cuba, Nicaragua, and especially Ecuador and Venezuela.[10]
| Summit | Date | Location | Country | Decisions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I Ordinary | 14 December 2004 | Havana |  Cuba | Founding summit of ALBA. Cuba-Venezuela Agreement signed by presidentsHugo Chávez and Fidel Castro. |
| II Ordinary | 27–28 April 2005 | Havana | Cuba | Attended by presidentsHugo Chávez andFidel Castro. |
| III Ordinary | 29 April 2006 | Havana | Cuba | Attended by presidentsHugo Chávez,Fidel Castro andEvo Morales from Bolivia, who joins the group. The TCP is signed. |
| IV Ordinary | 10 January 2007 | Managua |  Nicaragua | Meeting coinciding with inauguration as president ofNicaragua ofDaniel 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 ofBolivarian Revolution. |
| V Extraordinary | 16–17 April 2009 | Cumaná | Venezuela | |
| VI Extraordinary | 24 June 2009 | Maracay | Venezuela | Antigua and Barbuda,Ecuador andSaint Vincent and the Grenadines join the bloc. |
| VII Extraordinary | 29 June 2009 | Managua | Nicaragua | Condemnation of thecoup 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.[27] |
| 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 theEbola crisis. |
| XIII Ordinary | 14 December 2014 | Havana | Cuba | Grenada andSaint 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[28] | Havana | Cuba | |
| XVII Ordinary | 14 December 2019[29] | Havana | Cuba | Celebration of the fifteenth anniversary of the bloc. |
| XVIII Ordinary | 14 December 2020[30] | videoconference | Celebration of the sixteenth anniversary of the bloc and of the rejoining of Bolivia into it. | |
| XIX Ordinary | 24 June 2021[31] | Caracas | Venezuela | Celebration of the 200th anniversary of theBattle of Carabobo. |
| XX Ordinary | 14 December 2021[32][33] | Havana | Cuba | |
| XXI Ordinary | 27 May 2022[34][35] | Havana | Cuba | |
| XXII Ordinary | 14 December 2022[36][37] | Havana | Cuba | Celebration of the eighteenth anniversary of the bloc. |
| XXIII Ordinary | 24 April 2024[38] | Caracas | Venezuela | |
| XXIV Ordinary | 14 December 2024[39] | Caracas | Venezuela | Celebration of the 20th anniversary of the bloc. |
| Common name | Official name | Join date | Population | Area(km2) | E.E.Z + Area(km2) | 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 (Suspended)[25] | 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[4][40] | Grenada | 14 December 2014 | 111,454 | 348.5 | 27,770 | 1.467 | St. George's |
| Nicaragua | Republic of Nicaragua | 11 January 2007[41] | 6,466,199 | 129,495 | 254,254 | 18.878 | Managua |
 Saint Kitts and Nevis[4][42] | 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 |
| Common name | Official name | Population | Capital |
|---|---|---|---|
 Haiti[43] | Republic of Haiti | 10,847,334 | Port-au-Prince |
 Iran[43] | Islamic Republic of Iran | 81,672,300 | Tehran |
| 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 |
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Based on the earlierSan José Accords (1980) andCaracas Energy Accords (2000) betweenVenezuela 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 ofCuba, a nation largely deprived of oil since thefall of the Soviet Union in 1991, Petrocaribe has provided oil in exchange for medical doctors.[44]
As part of Cuba's efforts to spread itsEnergy 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.[45]: 294
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 ofVenezuela,Cuba andNicaragua.
PETROSUR is an inter-governmental energy alliance between VenezuelanPDVSA, ArgentineanYPF, and BrazilianPetrobras nationalized oil companies. The goal of this initiative is to provide funding for social welfare programs within these nations.[citation needed]
ALBA also speaks on behalf of its member states, if they find a common position in intergovernmental meetings of theUNFCCC.
In July 2018, PresidentLenín Moreno of Ecuador distanced himself from ALBA, stating that the organization "has not worked for a while."[46] In August 2018, Ecuador officially withdrew from ALBA.[citation needed]
Karen Longaric, appointed as foreign minister byJeanine Áñez's interim government, announced the formal departure of the country from ALBA in November 2019 over "interference" in Bolivia'spolitical crisis.[47] Bolivia remained in ALBA after the Áñez government was defeated in the2020 Bolivian general election.[citation needed]
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