April 24th 2008, by James Suggett - Venezuelanalysis.com

Mérida, April 24, 2008 (venezuelanalysis.com)-- Venezuelan President Hugo
Chávez convened an extraordinary meeting of member nations of the Bolivarian
Alternative for the Americas (ALBA) in Caracas early Wednesday morning to
discuss the world food crisis and the political crisis in eastern Bolivia.

At the meeting, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, Bolivian President Evo
Morales, Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage, and Chávez signed a series of accords
to promote mutual agricultural development, create a joint food distribution
network, and create a $100 million ALBA food security fund.

“The food crisis is the greatest demonstration of the historical failure of
the capitalist model,” President Chávez declared.

Highlighting the most recent report by the United Nations World Food Program
which called the food crisis a “silent Tsunami” and demanded an
internationally coordinated response, Chávez said, “ALBA announces its willingness to
assume responsibility, ALBA responds immediately… here we are.”

Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage commented that the crisis is part of an
“unjust international economic order” in which “the logic is profit and not the
satisfaction of peoples` needs.”

Lage further denounced the fact that the United States spends $500 billion
per year on the Iraq War while the U.N. had to plea last month for $500 million
donations in order to meet its emergency food quotas.

Social unrest has burgeoned in over thirty countries following an 80%
increase in world food prices over the last three years, according to the World Bank.
U.S. President George W. Bush authorized $200 million in global emergency
food aid April 14th, while Venezuela, which has faced food shortages recently,
sent 364 tons of meat, chicken, ham, milk, lentils, olive oil, and vegetables to
its neighbor Haiti, which has experienced violent riots over rising food
costs.

President Morales affirmed Wednesday that “it is the responsibility of
presidents to act in concert to guarantee the food security of our peoples.”

Morales also criticized the diversion of farmland for the production of
biofuels, which is widely recognized to have contributed to rising food prices, in
a speech at the inauguration of the United Nations Permanent Forum on
Indigenous Issues in New York Monday.

“If we do not bring an end to the capitalist system, it will be impossible to
save the Earth,” Morales concluded.

The agricultural development agreement signed by ALBA nations Wednesday will
focus on rice, corn, oil for human consumption, beans, beef, and milk, and the
improvement of watering systems. To avoid price speculation by private
intermediaries, the heads of state agreed to create a public food distribution
network with regulated prices. To fund these projects, the presidents agreed to
create a $100 million fund in the Bank of ALBA, which is still in formation.

The four leaders also signed a joint statement Wednesday, expressing
solidarity with Bolivia, where there is a secessionist movement led by elite
landowners in the natural resource-rich lowland Bolivian provinces of Santa Cruz,
Tarija, Beni, and Pando.

ALBA countries pledged “unrestricted support for the process of sovereign and
democratic changes” in Bolivia, and harshly denounced the separatist
movement, calling it a “frank violation of the constitution and Bolivian laws.”

The declaration was read publicly by Vice President Lage and advocated open
dialogue to solve the crisis in Bolivia. It rejected foreign interference, but
at the same time called on the international community to “act quickly and
decisively in solidarity with the people and the government of Bolivia to
consolidate political, economic, and social stability in the region.”

Chávez made clear his suspicion that the “empire wants to halt South American
integration and they have chosen, now, Bolivia as a target [because] they do
not want the grand fatherland of Latin America and the Caribbean to be born.”

In February it was revealed that the U.S. Embassy in Bolivia had pressured
Peace Corps volunteers and Fulbright scholars to spy on the activity of Cubans
and Venezuelans working in Bolivia. A report by Bolivia-based independent
journalist Ben Dangl the same month revealed evidence that the U.S. is channeling
funds from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to the
secessionist groups.

In New York Monday, Morales said the separatist referendum planned for May
4th was “a bridge point for the Empire here in Bolivia disguised by the
euphemism of autonomy.”

Morales also asked for international support to end what he called “slavery”
in Bolivia, following recent denunciations by sugar cane laborers on large
estates in the Santa Cruz province that over 8,000 children work in the fields
without pay.

Chávez, whose administration has redistributed over 2 million hectares (4.94
million acres) of mostly state owned land and some from large estates and
increased government financing for agricultural production by 728% over the past
three years, proposed Wednesday that Bolivian agricultural development be a
priority of ALBA, “with the permission and the pardon of Nicaragua, which is also
on the priority list.”

He also said ALBA countries are lucky to have responded so quickly to the
present food crisis, but are now “obligated to amplify, make more dynamic and
profound” these regional food security initiatives.

ALBA is a fair trade block created by Cuba and Venezuela in 2005 as an
alternative to the Free Trade Agreement for the Americas (FTAA) promoted by the U.S.
government. Since then, Bolivia, Nicaragua, and Dominica have joined the
block.

Source URL: http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/
Printed: April 24th 2008