Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders who attended the 23rd Summit of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America – People’s Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP) in Venezuela have renewed their call for the lifting of the United States trade and economic embargo against Cuba.
According to the English version of the communique issued after the meeting, St Lucia’s Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre said that Castries has consistently called for an immediate lifting of the sanctions against countries in the region.
“We have done it consistently in every single session of the United Nations and we will continue to do so until all the sanctions are lifted, and we want them to be eliminated against all countries,” Pierre is quoted as informing the meeting held last Wednesday.
Dominica’s Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit said, “we cannot leave out the blockade against Cuba, which has affected millions of lives, and we as a world cannot sit back and allow a single country to impose this terrible act on a sister nation.”
“I told the president that there is nothing that can prevent us from strengthening and deepening our solidarity, our love for the people of Cuba and the Cuban Revolution,” he added.
The statement quoted Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne as saying that Cuba must be taken off the state sponsors of terrorism list, as the designation has no basis in reality and has caused great harm to the Cuban people.
According to the declaration adopted by the meeting, the delegates present said they wanted to “ratify our strong condemnation of the genocidal and illegal economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the government of the United States of America against Cuba…
“We demand the exclusion of Cuba from the spurious and arbitrary unilateral list of countries supposedly sponsoring terrorism prepared by the United States Department of State, which has a negative impact on all spheres of Cuban society and the well-being of its people.”
The meeting also agreed on condemning the ongoing war in the Gaza and has condemned “the actions of Israel and all of the Western powers that have militarily, economically, and politically backed Israel and its genocidal assault on Gaza and called for the international community to take urgent measures to enforce a ceasefire”.
“As a hemisphere, we must protest tirelessly against the genocide in Palestine,” Prime Minister Browne added.
One of the key achievements of the summit was the revitalization of PetroCaribe, regarded as a key part of the economic agenda of ALBA 2030.
PetroCaribe was an energy agreement launched in 2005 under the leadership of the late Venezuelan leader, Hugo Chávez, to provide fuel to countries in the Caribbean at a subsidized price, with a part of the price paid consisting of services rendered or agricultural exports to Venezuela from the countries.
The agreement signed by over a dozen Caribbean countries also helped fund social programmes in countries to address socioeconomic equality such as expanding access to education, sanitation, public services, housing, healthcare and others.
PetroCaribe was suspended in 2019 due to the heavy sanctions imposed on Venezuela’s oil sector by the United States, resulting in a dramatic decrease in production.
“With Venezuela achieving important economic growth in recent years and a reactivation of oil production, it is now ready to relaunch the programme,” the statement said.
The meeting also approved of the ALBA 2030 Strategic Agenda drafted by the executive secretary to serve as a “guide and document to address the coming years and consolidate the alliance in a comprehensive way, in a joint effort to strengthen the most important areas for development and wellbeing of our people.”
The document, which reflects discussions and consultations with members of the bloc, outlines concrete plans in the economic, social, political, cultural, and communication realms to achieve the above goal.
