FTAA, FTAA... fuck off! The Free Trade Area of the Americas was buried 19 years ago
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Published at: 04/11/2024 08:06 AM
“The peoples defeated the FTAA,” said Commander Chávez, accompanied, precisely, by the people in Argentina on November 4, 2005, with whom he repeated the phrase that went down in history: FTAA, FTAA, to hell with it!
The Fourth Summit of the Americas had an agenda oriented towards development for the good of peoples, however, the then president of the United States, George W. Bush, wanted the immediate application of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) in the region.
The objectives pursued by the United States, through the application of supranational trade rules, would limit the capacity of governments to act around their own economies and would give power to investors. Accepting the FTAA also meant accepting the “structural adjustment” measures of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB), that is, a series of social cuts to “guarantee” payments of external debts.
The leader of the Bolivarian Revolution Hugo Chávez explained this during the 2005 meeting. “What the FTAA seeks is to consolidate the economic power of the large transnational corporations and the elites that have dominated these countries for a long time; the Alba seeks the liberation of peoples, the redistribution of the income of our peoples, equality, the change of the productive economic model, social inclusion, without exclusion”.
In this way, the way was opened to the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (Alba), a new form of regional exchange, based on ideals promoted by the Governments of Venezuela and Cuba, and which was created in 2004.
At the 3rd Summit of the Americas, in Canada in 2001, the Supreme Commander signed the final declaration stating that Venezuela was opposed to the FTAA proposal, a short time after Cuban leader Fidel Castro and Chávez, they were creating the foundations of what is now ALBA.
In December of that same year, within the framework of the 3rd Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Association of Caribbean States, held in Venezuela, President Hugo Chávez presented the idea of ALBA, as a proposal for the integral, economic, social, political and cultural integration of the peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean.
ALBA concentrated on the following principles: solidarity, complementarity, justice, cooperation, social equality, quality of life, self-determination, cultural diversity and the effective participation of peoples in shaping their own destiny.
Mazo News Team