ALBA-TCP Summit Approves Declaration Of Principles And Commitments

Above photo: Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro at the closing ceremony of the 24th ALBA-TCP Summit held in Caracas, Venezuela, December 14, 2024. X/@EmbaVEespana.

The 24th Summit of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America-People’s Trade Treaty ( ALBA-TCP ) ended with the unanimous approval of the Declaration of Principles and Commitments by the heads of state and government of the regional cooperation bloc.

The declaration was agreed upon by the leaders and high-ranking representatives who attended the summit held in Caracas, Venezuela. At the closing ceremony on Saturday, December 14, it was issued under the name “Special Declaration of the 24th ALBA-TCP Summit: Reaffirmation of the Principles, Objectives, Commitments and Banners of Struggle of ALBA-TCP,” 20 years after its founding.

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro explained that the statement ratifies the path first adopted 20 years ago, when ALBA-TCP was created by initiatives of Commanders Fidel Castro and Hugo Chávez, based on the principles of respect for independence and sovereignty, integration, solidarity, cooperation, and complementarity.

#14Dic | Declaración de la XXIV Cumbre de Jefes de Estado y de Gobierno del ALBA-TCP

🔗https://t.co/dpMqwODBlh pic.twitter.com/fDrCRDIAUu

— ALBA-TCP (@ALBATCP) December 15, 2024

A statement was also approved on the occasion of the Bicentennial of the Battle of Ayacucho. The Venezuelan president said that the text ends with the speech that General Antonio José de Sucre gave to the independence troops on the morning of December 9, 1824, shortly before charging against the Spanish imperial troops: “Soldiers, the fate of South America depends on your efforts today; another day of glory will crown your admirable perseverance. Soldiers, long live the Liberator! Long live Bolívar, savior of Peru!”

Unofficial translation of the declaration of principles is presented below:

1. We commemorate with deep emotion in Our America the thirtieth anniversary of that embrace between Commanders Hugo Chávez Frías and Fidel Castro Ruz, which marked the course of contemporary history in Latin America and the Caribbean. We remember that young soldier full of ideas, goals and dreams, who fulfilled his dream of meeting a fundamental figure of dignity and resistance for the entire Latin American and Caribbean continent, Commander Fidel Castro Ruz.
2. We celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the founding of our great, historic and unprecedented Latin American and Caribbean integration and unity alliance, with an emphasis on the social dimension, which from its conception considered the human being as the foundation and epicenter of integration, and committed itself to forming relationships based on solidarity, complementarity, justice and cooperation.
3. We reaffirm our unrestricted commitment and responsibility to meet the needs and defend the interests of our people, to whom we owe ourselves, always adhering to the internal legal order and respect for the norms of International Law and the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter.
4. We reaffirm our unwavering commitment to defending democratic values, respecting the popular will expressed at the polls, and promoting inclusive political systems that guarantee the active participation of all sectors of society. We strongly condemn the use of hate speech, disinformation, and polarizing strategies that seek to destabilize our democracies and erode peaceful coexistence among our peoples to achieve coups d’état.
5. We highlight the importance of reviving and deepening the founding principles and values ​​of ALBA-TCP, in a challenging world in which fascism and neo-fascism threaten the right of peoples to live in peace.
6. We reaffirm the importance and our commitment to defend the “Proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace” which, 10 years after its approval at the 2nd CELAC Summit in Havana, Cuba, in January 2014, remains fully valid.
7. We reaffirm our commitment to building foreign policies that prioritize depatriarchalization, climate justice and decolonization as fundamental principles for the transformation of our societies. We advocate for the eradication of all forms of oppression and discrimination based on gender, ethnicity or culture, promoting systems of justice and coexistence that respect the dignity and rights of all people, in harmony with our Mother Earth and indigenous peoples.
8. We strongly condemn the arbitrary, illegal and criminal unilateral coercive measures imposed by the United States government against Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua. These sanctions seriously affect the well-being and prosperity of our peoples and constitute a systematic aggression aimed at imposing an agenda aligned with US geopolitical interests. They also represent a flagrant violation of International Law and the United Nations Charter.
9. We reiterate 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 and highlight the historic support of the member states of the Alliance for the resolution of the United Nations General Assembly “Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States of America against Cuba.”
10. We demand the exclusion of Cuba from the spurious and arbitrary unilateral list of countries that supposedly sponsor terrorism, drawn up by the United States Department of State, which has a negative impact on all spheres of Cuban society and on the well-being of its people by intensifying the criminal economic war and increasing the difficulties of the Cuban state to carry out international trade, financial operations and acquiring basic supplies.
11. We reaffirm the just claim to receive reparations and compensation for colonialism, the horrors of slavery, the transatlantic human trafficking and the genocide perpetrated against indigenous populations.
12. We reject the demands for access to development financing for the peoples of the South, with the imposition of a vision that does not take into account vulnerabilities to the negative impacts of climate change, especially for small island developing states.
13. We agree to coordinate a joint strategy to defend the inalienable right of the people of Haiti to enjoy peace and the authentic exercise of their sovereignty and independence in multilateral spaces such as CELAC.
14. We express our firm support for the inalienable right of the people of Puerto Rico to self-determination and full independence as a Latin American and Caribbean nation. We support the people of Puerto Rico in their struggle for independence and national sovereignty.
15. We express our strongest repudiation and condemnation of the terrorist actions perpetrated by the state of Israel against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, and its responsibility for perpetuating a spiral of violence and destabilization in the region. These actions have caused the death of citizens of different nationalities and the brutal murder of thousands of innocent civilians, including children, the elderly and women, unleashing one of the worst humanitarian catastrophes of our time. In this regard, we approve the Special Communiqué on Palestine attached to this Declaration.
16. We renew our aspirations for the fall of imperialism and the emergence of a new multipolar order, marked by relations of respect and cooperation for the economic, political and social development of the peoples of the entire world. We applaud the fundamental role of the BRICS and the entry of some countries of our Alliance into this bloc as a positive step on the road to prosperity for our continent.
17. We are pleased to accompany the preparations for the Bicentennial of the Independence of Bolivia, today the Plurinational State of Bolivia, which in 2025 will commemorate 200 years of independence, resistance and struggle. We celebrate its history, forging its identity over generations together with the 36 Indigenous, Original and Peasant Nations, as a democratic, free and sovereign country.

At the closing ceremony of the ALBA-TCP summit, President Maduro carried two symbols of Latin American struggles: a saber carried by the Liberator Simón Bolívar, which he used to command the patriots during the Battle of Carabobo (June 24, 1821), and a sword that the people of Lima gave to Bolívar, liberator of Peru, in October 1825.