The Bolivarian Alliance of the Americas (ALBA)

The Subversion of American Interests

November 17, 2010
 “…we fully agree that the ALBA will not become a reality based upon
mercantilist interests or desire for personal gain through business, or in the
increase in national benefit at the expense of other countries. Only a broad
pan-latinamericanist vision, that recognizes the impossibility that our
countries can develop and be truly independent isolated from one another, will
be capable of achieving what Bolivar called ‘see formed in America the
greatest nation in the world, less so by its expanse or riches than by its
freedom and glory’ and what Marti conceived as ‘our America’ to differentiate
it from the other America, expansionist and with imperial appetites”.

Joint Declaration for the creation of the ALBA: Havana, Cuba December 14,
2004
“Death to American (US) imperialism. If it does
not die, we will die, brothers. Let us choose
then, or the empire dies, or we die, let each of us
choose…”
President Evo Morales Ayma
Managua, Nicaragua at the entry of Nicaragua into the ALBA
January 15, 2007
 Who is the ALBA?
Name Size (square Km) Population GDP (in $ Millions) Date Joined

Antigua and Barbuda 442 85,632 1,522 June 24, 2009

Bolivia 1,098,581 9,775,246 45,560 April 29, 2006

Cuba 110,860 11,451,652 110,000 December 14, 2004

Dominica 751 72,660 744 January 20, 2008

Ecuador 283,561 14,573,101 108,800 June 24, 2009

Nicaragua 130,370 5,891,199 16,510 February 23, 2007

St. Vincent and the 389 104,574 1,069 June 24, 2009
Grenadines

Venezuela 912,050 26,814,843 349,300 December 14, 2004

ALBA Totals 2,537,004 68,768,907 633,505

Observers: Haiti, Iran and Syria

 ALBA Summits
1st Summit Havana, Cuba Dec. 14, 2004
2nd Summit Havana, Cuba April 27, 2005
3rd Summit Havana, Cuba April 28, 2006
4th Summit Managua, January 11, 2007
Nicaragua
5th Summit Tintorero, Vzla April 27, 2007
6th Summit Caracas, Vzla January 26, 2008
1st Extraordinary Caracas, Vzla April 23, 2008
Summit
2nd Extraordinary Teguc., Honduras August 25, 2008
Summit
3rd Extraordinary Caracas, Vzla November 26, 2008
Summit
 ALBA Summits Cont.
4th Extraordinary Caracas, Vzla Feb 2, 2009
Summit
5th Extraordinary Cumana, Vzla April 16, 2009
Summit
6th Extraordinary Maracay, Vzla June 24, 2009
Summit
7th Summit Cochabamba, Oct. 17, 2009
Bolivia
8th Summit Havana, Cuba Dec. 13, 2009
9th Summit Caracas, Vzla April 19, 2010
10th Summit Otavalo, Ecuador June 25, 2010
 Structure of the ALBA

Presidential Council

Economic Council Council of Social

Social Council Political Council
Movements

Committee on Permanent
Women and Political Committee in Committee on
Equality of Commission Defense of Nature Defense and
Opportunities Sovereignty

Working group on
international
Executive Secretary
property rights,
self-determination
 People’s Trade Agreement
Grand-National Projects
• Statist development/social projects between
ALBA member governments/to build permanent
majority
• ALBA Education: (based upon “Yes I Can”
Cuban literacy program)
• ALBA Culture: literature festival, movie festival,
documentaries, ALBA/Olympic games, events
• ALBA Medicine: Cuban doctor program
 Grand-National Projects
• Communications
– ALBA multi-channel (10+ TV stations, thousands of
downloadable documentaries, movies)
– Simon Bolivar Satellite (over $400m bought from
China)
– TeleSUR: Regional TV channel across Latin America
– ALBA Radio: Live feed
– Radio of the South: Live feed
– ALBA Television: Community TV downloadable
 Grand-National Projects
• ALBA Finance
– Bank of the ALBA: 1 Billion Dollars, financing 17
projects across the region. Development bank
supporting Grand-National Projects
– New regional trade currency SUCRE, just carried
out first transaction between Bolivia and VEN.
• ALBA Just Trade (research, import/export
bus.)
 Grand-National Projects
• ALBA Food Security (0 Hunger in Nicaragua)
• ALBA Transport (inactive)
• ALBA Tourism: Recently finished tourism
expo in Caracas
• ALBA Industry (inactive)
• ALBA Mining: increasing help from Iran
• ALBA Energy (wrapped into PetroCARIBE),
Cuban micro-generator program
 ALBA Social Movements
• Operationalization of Foro de San Paulo
• “Foot soldiers” to build their permanent
majorities, bring other countries into ALBA
• “Big Tent”, as long as people pull in the same
direction
• Over 180 “Houses of the ALBA” in Peru
 21 Century Socialism
st

• Taken from “Revolutionary Brotherhood”

– Create conflicts: External (with US, neighbors), Internal (poor/rich)
– Rewrite Constitutions (Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, and almost Honduras),
extend presidential limits
– Create link leader-citizen power. Do away with other institutions
(communes in Venezuela)
– Co-opt institutions of state under the party
– Transform armed forces to defend “revolution”
– Divide the opposition
– Ally with key sectors of business
– Rebuild revolutionary spirit
– Dominate media
– Expansionist (looking to add El Salvador and Dominican Republic)
 21 Century Socialism
st

• Direct Democracy
– Distills all rights down to one simple act: “VOTE”
• People surrender all other basic rights to “participate” – in broad areas and
where they are told.
• Government acts like a political party
• Uses the vote to do away with separation of powers, right to private property,
right to free speech, right to due process, etc.
– Rests upon the theory of a “permanent majority”
• Constant referenda, violent events (such as Ecuador’s police situation) to shore
up support, co-opting electoral systems
• Significant social spending to purchase votes (through Grand-National
Projects)
• Communicational hegemony
(In Vzla, this is starting to unravel)
 Anti-Americanism
• Relationship with Iran
– Observer country of the ALBA
– Venezuela:
• More than 200 agreements
• Qods force present in Caracas (Pentagon report)
• PDVSA announced investment of $780m in South Pars (causes CITGO
to break US sanctions?)
• Direct flight Caracas/Tehran (suspended due to CONVIASA maint.
Problems)
• Former National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair, “Chavez’ growing
ties to Iran, coupled with Venezuela’s lax financial laws and border
controls and widespread corruption have created a permissive
environment for Hezbollah to exploit”
 Anti-Americanism
• Relationship to Iran Cont.
– Bolivia
• Chavez introduced Morales and Ahmadinejad in 2007
• Est. Dip relations, Bolivia moves embassy from Egypt to Tehran
• Jan 2009 Morales expresses support to Ahmadinejad and severs
ties to Israel
• May 2009, the Associated Press published an Israeli intelligence
report that Iran was buying uranium from Bolivia and Venezuela,
though both Bolivia and Iran denied trading the nuclear fissile
material
• Most recent trip, Morales reportedly gave Lithium exploration to
Iran
 Anti-Americanism
• Relationship to Iran Cont.
– Ecuador
• Ahmadinejad attends Correa’s inauguration
• 2007 established trade offices in Quito and Tehran
• Iran has considered depositing over $100m in Ecuadorian banks to
avoid sanctions
• Correa has suggested he may buy weapons from Iran to protect
Colombian border
– Nicaragua
• Ahmadinejad visited Ortega’s inauguration
• Deepen Dip Relations
• Iran has announced hundreds of millions in loans to Nicaragua
 Anti-Americanism
• Drug Trafficking
– 2005 Venezuela expels the DEA, Venezuela de-certified in the fight against
drugs
– 2008 Bolivia expels the DEA, Bolivia de-certified in the fight against drugs
– 2009 Ecuador closes Manta airbase to US counter-narcotics
– 2010 Honduras’ ex President Zelaya confirms he was going to close Soto
Cano
– Daniel Ortega has repeatedly verbally attacked the DEA, although has so far
continued cooperation with the USA
– Venezuela has become one of the leading transit countries in the world,
according to UNODC (50% of all drug seizures from Ven, 100% of all
flights to West Africa). Increasing drug production and trafficking in
Bolivia and Honduras as well
 Other Challenges
• Cancun Climate Change Summit (upcoming)
• Haiti Relief Efforts: During the disaster, ALBA held their own
relief summit (avoiding Canada)
• Copenhagen: ALBA congealed the effort that led to the collapse of
Pres. Obama’s climate change initiative
• Subverted OAS: No final declaration in Trinidad, re-entry of Cuba,
co-opted response to Hondurans firing Zelaya, Insulza followed the
ALBA line on how to describe Ecuador’s dustup, current Nicaragua
problem
• Keeping Cuba afloat
• Interference in Peru elections, in Bolivia elections, steady
interference in Colombia
“Honoring the debt to democracy (…) means strengthening our systems of
checks and balance, which are profoundly threatened
by the presence of tentacular governments that have erased the
boundaries between government, party and state. It means assuring the
employ of a solid nucleus of fundamental rights and
guarantees, which are chronically debilitated in a large part of the Latin
American region. And it means, first of all, the use of political power to
achieve a better level of human development, the
improvement of the conditions of life of our inhabitants and the expansion
of freedoms of our citizens.”

Oscar Arias Sanchez, President of Costa Rica 2006 - 2010

 Joel D. Hirst
International Affairs Fellow
Council on Foreign Relations
jhirst@cfr.org
www.joelhirst.com
www.twitter.com/joelhirst
Facebook Public Figure Joel Hirst
www.scribd.com/hirstjd