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Bolivia, Cuba, Venezuela forge trade pact

(From left) Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, Cuba's President Fidel Castro and Bolivia's President Evo Morales at the Plaza of Revolution in Havana on Saturday. — PHOTO: AP

HAVANA: Bolivian President Evo Morales joined Fidel Castro of Cuba and Hugo Chavez of Venezuela in Havana for Saturday's endorsement of a socialist trade initiative aimed at providing an alternative to U.S.-backed trade efforts in Latin America.

Mr. Morales planned to officially include his Andean nation in the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas — a pact that Leftists Mr. Castro and Mr. Chavez signed a year ago.

So far, only Venezuela and Cuba are signatories to the pact known by its Spanish acronym as ALBA, which also translates to mean ``dawn.'' It also been referred to as the ``people's trade agreement.''

The pact calls for shared trade and cooperation agreements among Latin American nations in lieu of Washington's unsuccessful Free Trade Area of the Americas, or FTAA, which Mr. Chavez and Mr. Castro said was a U.S. attempt to ``annex'' the region.

Saturday's ceremony marked a deepening political and economic alliance among Communist Cuba and Left-leaning Venezuela and Bolivia as the three countries work toward their own idea for regional integration without U.S. influence. Mr. Castro warmly greeted Mr. Morales in the afternoon, then Mr. Chavez along with Mr. Morales in the evening, as they arrived on separate flights at the Havana airport.

The trade pact is named for the 19th century South American revolutionary Simon Bolivar, who led independence wars in the present day nations of Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador. The agreement will allow Bolivia, Cuba and Venezuela to trade some products with zero tariffs and strengthen already close ties among the three nations, whose leaders are known for their strong opposition to U.S. policy.

``We don't want to be rich, but we do want to live well, with dignity, as brothers, so there is no misery, so there is no poverty, so people are not excluded — that is among our fundamental objectives,'' Mr. Chavez said of the trade pact in Caracas before leaving for Havana.

Mr. Chavez and Mr. Morales have warned in recent days that their countries could withdraw from the Andean Community if fellow trade-bloc members Colombia, Peru and Ecuador go through with free trade pacts with the United States.

Mr. Chavez said in his Caracas speech that Venezuela and Cuba would happily buy all the soybeans that Bolivia produces. Colombia — previously a key soybean market for Bolivia — recently signed a free trade pact with the United States and can now get soybeans at much lower prices, the Venezuelan President said.

Since a U.S.-backed FTAA fell apart last year, Washington has signed nine free trade agreements with Latin American countries. Ecuador is currently in negotiations.

AP

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