Latin America File: Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas wraps up 5th Summit in Venezuela, liberation theologian lauds anti-USA bloc

The neo-communist political-economic bloc Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA) is designed to bypass and undermine the perceived "imperial hegemony" of the USA's Free Trade Area of the Americas. Pictured here: ALBA leaders: Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, Communist Party of Cuba Politburo member Carlos Lage, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Bolivian President Evo Morales, and Haitian President Rene Preval. ALBA is successfully wooing Haiti into Latin America's Red Axis. Coincidentally or not, Gennady Zyuganov, Secretary General of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, was strategizing with counterparts in Caracas, while the ALBA wingding occured in another Venezuelan city called Barquisimeto.

Latin American Summit Mulls Energy Accords

Havana, April 29, 2007 (acn) The 5th Summit of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Latin American Countries (ALBA) wraps up Sunday in Barquisimeto, Venezuela, with the signing of new accords likely.

An agreement on oil supplies would benefit the four ALBA members: Cuba, Bolivia, Venezuela, and Nicaragua, as well as Haiti. The initiative was proposed by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez during the opening ceremony on Saturday, PL News Agency reported.

"The time has come for Venezuelan oil to contribute to the happiness and integration of our Latin America," said Chavez. He also recalled that for nearly a century, Venezuelan oil contributed to the development of the United States, which obtained it through direct exploitation or at ridiculously low prices.

Projects on mining, energy, education, and medical attention are some of the other accords under consideration, noted Chavez. Possible joint ventures between participant countries were also announced by Jose Khan, Venezuelan minister for Mining and Basic Industry.

Khan mentioned two large-scale joint ventures involving Cuba and Venezuela. One is based in the South American country to produce stainless steel. A second is for iron-nickel production on the Caribbean island.
An aluminum enterprise with five production lines to supply this metal for Nicaragua and the rest of Latin America is currently under study in Nicaragua.

Likewise, an accord with Bolivia will help that country exploit its large iron (called Motu) reserves and install three new plants, one for steel and two for cement production.

The role of social movements within the ALBA and the crisis faced by Washington in its attempt to build a hegemonic world order are also under discussion during the two-day summit at the Las Trinitarias Hotel.

Source: Cuban News Agency

Meanwhile, Brazilian-born Dominican monk and theologian, Castro chum, and advocate of Puerto Rican independence Frei Betto appeared on Cuban television to denounce the USA for harboring alleged anti-Castro terrorist Luis Posada Carriles and incarcerating the "Cuban Five" spies, and to praise ALBA as "the path towards a synergy among all countries and a new dawn for the integration of Latin America."

In a dialogue with yoga monk Dada Maheshananda, recorded at the Dominican Seminary in Sao Paulo, in 1999, Betto lauds the liberationism of the Brazilian bishops' conference: "I think that liberation theology is passing through a crisis of creativity. A certain form of it has penetrated in the life of the Catholic Church. The documents of the bishops about social injustice in Brazil, their criticism of the sale of the national Brazilian mining company Vale do Rio Doce and of neo-liberalism [capitalism], are the healthy fruits of liberation theology." Betto also gushes about the communist gulag of Cuba: "I consider Cuba in advance of the rest of Latin America, for the simple fact that the social indices are much higher there. So my evaluation of a country is not, for example, how often the president changes, but rather the percentage of the population that has the right to life. This is why I admire Cuba, while at the same time that I have a lot of criticism of it, too. I see various defects in the Cuban Revolution, but the social successes are most important." Responding to the yogi's question about Pope John Paul II's January 1998 visit to Cuba, the good friar intones: "I think that it will be a positive event. It will certainly irritate many Cubans in Miami, because it is a form of religious legitimation of the revolution." Thus, Betto, who personifies the Catholic-communist convergence in the Third World, informs us that the pope's pilgrimage to Havana was a "form of religious legitimation of revolution."

Following the pope's demise on April 2, 2005, Cuban Tyrant and student of the Jesuits Fidel Castro published a letter in the front page of Juventud Rebelde in which he declared: "Humanity will preserve an emotional memory of the tireless work of His Holiness John Paul II in favor of peace, justice and solidarity among all people."