HAVANA, Cuba, Dec 14 (ACN) Heads of State and other participants in the 17th Summit of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America-People's Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP) unanimously approved this Saturday a final declaration of the meeting in which they reaffirmed that the victory of the just causes depends on unity.
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez read the document after the debate in the El Laguito Protocol Hall, in which it was ratified that they seek solidarity not as an end but as a means to achieve that "Our America" fulfills its universal mission, as the Cuban National Hero José Martí once said.
The declaration emphasizes that regional unity and integration is the only way to confront the domination exercised by the hegemonic structures of world power that have left their peoples in a historical condition of political, economic and cultural subordination and vulnerability.
It recognizes that ALBA-TCP is based on principles of solidarity and social justice, defense of independence and self-determination of peoples, cooperation and economic complementarity, fruit of the deep integrationist vocation of its members and of their political will to advance together towards sustainable development.
It highlights the social achievements of the organization, which have been directed to human beings regardless of race, social stratum, creed or political position, which has allowed that millions of people have benefited.
It ratifies the commitment to the construction of an alternative model of economic sovereignty, expressed in a New Financial Architecture, to consolidate a system of reciprocal, solidary, participative and complementary exchange and cooperation that strengthens economic and commercial freedom.
The text denounces the maintenance of a hostile policy against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, condemns the coup d'état against the constitutional government of Evo Morales in Bolivia, as well as the threats and destabilizing attempts against the legitimate government of Nicaragua.
It rejects interfering actions against the political process in Suriname and attempts to destabilize that country, while expressing the support and solidarity of the regional bloc with that nation.
It firmly denounces the application of the Monroe doctrine and demands respect for the self-determination of peoples, their sovereignty and territorial integrity and non-interference in the internal affairs of each State.
It condemns the systematic actions of the U.S. government to discredit and sabotage Cuban cooperation in dozens of countries in the health sector, which has benefited millions of people.
The declaration recognizes the adoption by the UN General Assembly of the resolution condemning the economic, financial and commercial blockade imposed on Cuba for more than half a century, recently endorsed by 187 countries, a sign of an international community committed to truth, justice and respect for international law.
It also reiterates the willingness to continue working and cooperating in confronting climate change, and ratifies that the current policy of the United States government towards the region poses challenges that generate clear violations of the principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations and international law, as well as in the postulates of the Proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace.
Fifteen years after the creation of the multilateral bloc, the XVII ALBA-TCP Summit was held today in Havana, attended by presidents Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez of Cuba, Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela and Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua, David Choquehuanca, Executive Secretary of the organization, Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, as well as foreign ministers of member countries.