Latin America, which throughout the 20th Century has been a hotbed of corruption, political instability and oppression, appears to be on the brink of repeating those mistakes once again. This latest dance into darkness was on display at The Bolivarian Alternative for Latin America and the Caribbean (ALBA for short). ALBA is the communist equivalent of the Organization of American States and the conference held in Cumana, Venezuela, hosted by the clown Hugo Chavez, President for life of Venezuela, is their version of the Summit of the America's recently attended by President Obama.
President Manuel Zelaya and Paraguay's President Fernando Lugo.Unlike the Summit of the America's Cuba's leader. Raoul Castro (pictured right with the clown Chavez) was front and center.
Much of the ALBA declaration centered around demands that the U.S. lift economic sanctions on Cuba. No doubt Obama will follow suit shortly. Though few think such a move will change the anti-American rantings of this bunch of banana eaters.
Here is an excerpt of the declaration:
The Declaration of Cumaná: Capitalism 'threatens life on the planet'What a load of ....
April 24, 2009
1. Capitalism is leading humanity and the planet to extinction. What we are experiencing is a global economic crisis of a systemic and structural nature, not another cyclic crisis.
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Until now, the economic crisis has generated over 100 million additional hungry persons and has slashed over 50 million jobs, and these figures show an upward trend.
2. Capitalism has caused the environmental crisis, by submitting the necessary conditions for life in the planet, to the predominance of market and profit. Each year we consume one third more of what the planet is able to regenerate. With this squandering binge of the capitalist system, we are going to need two planets Earth by the year 2030.
3. The global economic crisis, climate change, the food crisis and the energy crisis are the result of the decay of capitalism, which threatens to end life and the planet. To avert this outcome, it is necessary to develop and model an alternative to the capitalist system. A system based on:
- solidarity and complementarity, not competition;
- a system in harmony with our mother earth and not plundering of human resources;
- a system of cultural diversity and not cultural destruction and imposition of cultural values and lifestyles alien to the realities of our countries;
- a system of peace based on social justice and not on imperialist policies and wars;
- in summary, a system that recovers the human condition of our societies and peoples and does not reduce them to mere consumers or merchandise.
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7. As for climate change, developed countries are in an environmental debt to the world because they are responsible for 70% of historical carbon emissions into the atmosphere since 1750. Developed countries should pay off their debt to humankind and the planet; they should provide significant resources to a fund so that developing countries can embark upon a growth model which does not repeat the serious impacts of the capitalist industrialization.
8. Solutions to the energy, food and climate change crises should be comprehensive and interdependent. We cannot solve a problem by creating new ones in fundamental areas for life. For instance, the widespread use of agricultural fuels has an adverse effect on food prices and the use of essential resources, such as water, land and forests.
9. We condemn the discrimination against migrants in any of its forms. Migration is a human right, not a crime. Therefore, we request the United States government an urgent reform of its migration policies in order to stop deportations and massive raids and allow for reunion of families. We further demand the removal of the wall that separates and divides us, instead of uniting us.
10. Basic education, health, water, energy and telecommunications services should be declared human rights and cannot be subject to private deal or marketed by the World Trade Organization. These services are and should be essentially public utilities of universal access.
11. We wish a world where all, big and small, countries have the same rights and where there is no empire. We advocate non-intervention.
12. With regard to the U.S. blockade against Cuba and the exclusion of the latter from the Summit of the Americas, we, the member states of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Peoples of Our America, reassert the Declaration adopted by all Latin American and Caribbean countries last December 16, 2008, on the need to end the economic, trade and financial blockade imposed by the Government of the United States of America on Cuba, including the implementation of the so-called Helms-Burton Act.
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Additionally, we consider that the attempts at imposing the isolation of Cuba have failed
13. Developed countries have spent at least USD 8 billion to rescue a collapsing financial structure. They are the same that fail to allocate the small sums of money to attain the Millennium Goals or 0.7% of the GDP for the Official Development Assistance.
14. The legitimate struggle against drug trafficking and organized crime, and any other form of the so-called “new threats” must not be used as an excuse to undertake actions of interference and intervention against our countries.
Let's go through a few of these points shall we?
Capitalism is responsible for the extraordinary improvement in the lives of nearly every person on this planet and has been a remarkable agent for progress and to support peace. On the other hand, communism has caused the deaths of 100 million people worldwide. Nearly double the number who died in World War II. Communist economic theory which is at the heart of the ALBA declaration has led to mass starvation, degrading poverty, political oppression and war.
Put aside for a moment U.S. economic sanctions on Cuba. We have no such policy towards Venezuela. In fact, according to the U.S. Dept. of State we are the largest importer of Venezuela's goods. Over $40 billion per year. Despite enormous increases in export dollars due to the skyrocketing price of oil, Venezuelans suffer food shortages of the basic staples like meat, milk, sugar, rice, coffee. All due to the communist economic policies pursued by Chavez.
And as for protecting the environment, it's worth pointing out that communist regimes are notorious in their disregard for the high standards of environmental protection which have been implemented in the United States. Upsetting U.S. lefties who typically lick Chavez's boots is Venezuela's plan to build a 5,000 mile natural gas pipeline through the heart of the Amazon rain forest.
Even more annoying is that the Declaration underscores how these socialist loons hate the United States on the one hand and seem to always have their hand out on the other. Readers will note in point #7 that to address climate change the "developed countries should pay off their debt to humankind and the planet; they should provide significant resources to a fund so that developing countries."
In point #10 they insist "Basic education, health, water, energy and telecommunications services should be declared human rights." Who do you suppose they are going to ask to pay for it?
The U.S. should also allow free immigration to all those who wish to enter. Of course none of these nations would permit unfettered immigration from any of their neighbors.
In point #11 we note that the ALBA members "advocate non-intervention." What a shame Venezuela's neighbor Columbia wasn't able to attend. They have been target of a direct policy by Chavez to undermine their government at every opportunity. Cuba also has it's own history of intervention in such places like Angola, Grenada and Nicaragua.
And last but not least point #14 where the ALBA leaders demand freedom to continue with their drug trafficking activities without the threat of U.S. "interference and intervention against our countries."
From start to finish the ALBA Declaration is nothing but an anti-American screed designed to provide ideological cover for the failures of oppressive communist regimes to deliver on promises made to the masses. It's likely that further economic, social and political upheaval will occur in the region. Spurred on by Obama's apparent indifference to offering Latin Americans anything other than an apology which only validates these leftist thugocracies and perpetuates them in power.
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