Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on Sunday celebrated 21 years of battles, victories and hopes for the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America / Peoples’ Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP).
“It was that giant step taken in Havana, when the dawn of the 21st century was just breaking,” he wrote on his Telegram account.
Maduro stated that Fidel Castro and Hugo Chávez signed the founding document of “this powerful alliance of peace, cooperation, and hope.” He emphasized that ALBA-TCP was created to accelerate historical progress in building a multipolar, pluri-centric world, without hegemony, based on equality and respect.
“We are an alliance of warriors for peace, founded on Bolívar, Martí, Sandino, Fidel, and Chávez,” he affirmed. For us, “returning to colonies, slavery, or being on our knees is not an option. We dream of true unity and the liberation of our continent,” he reaffirmed.
The Bolivarian leader emphasized that we are an immense moral, political, and social force on the ground, producing social, economic, cultural, and political-diplomatic responses.
In the Venezuelan leader’s view, “peace can only be born from social justice, respect for the rule of law, and the self-determination of peoples.” He stressed that ALBA-TCP has always been at the forefront of major events, forming a broad front in defense of independence and the right to justice in our region.
In the video accompanying the message, Maduro recalled that December 14th marks the commemoration of the founding of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) by Commanders Fidel Castro Ruz and Hugo Chávez. He stated that it was an anti-neoliberal, solidarity-based, popular, humane, and humanist Bolivarian alternative.
A Bolivarian Alternative for the Peoples of Our America that, over the years, transformed into an “Alliance of peace, cooperation, shared development, the common good, and the union of Latin America and the Caribbean.”
Hugo Chávez, meanwhile, pointed out that it was an integration mechanism based on new principles of solidarity and reciprocity; “the challenge that historical times impose on us,” he added.
“We will always be here, and when we are no longer allowed to be physically present, we will be in you, young people, and in the children. You will rise, free and strong, on this earth,” he declared.
The historic leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, for his part, shared the ideals of the heroes Simón Bolívar and José Martí.
IMAGE CREDIT: Nicolas Maduro / teleSUR
[ SOURCE: teleSUR ]
