Chávez Denounces Separatist Plans in Venezuela

CARACAS, June 14.–– President Hugo Chávez warned today that the Venezuelan oligarchy is making efforts to revive separatist plans in the southwestern states of Zulia and Táchira, PL news agency reported.

"We are not going to allow them to turn Táchira, or Zulia, into a lair for paramilitary soldiers," said Chávez during the Aló, Presidente program, which was broadcasted from the La Bandera Primary Unit of Social Property, in Táchira.

Chávez also called on the governors to fulfill their duties and mentioned that the people, the Armed Forces and the Constitution would combat the separatist plans. He also denounced a campaign of certain mass media against the Bolivarian Armed Forces, in an attempt to divide it.

Chávez also said that more than a million Venezuelan youths had enrolled the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) after a process that began on May 8 and will end on Sunday.

JOINT ANSWER TO THE CRISIS

CARACAS, June 14.–– Venezuelan President, Hugo Chávez, said today that the current world crisis demands rigor, attention, knowledge, efforts and the joint search of solutions.

In his Sunday column Las Líneas the Chávez (Chávez´Lines), the president spoke of the recently concluded Petrocaribe Summit, held last Friday in Saint Kitts and Nevis, with the attendance of 18 heads of state and government.

About Petrocaribe he said that, "It is one of the new bases for integration, which will allow for building a modern system of economic relations in Latin America, and at the same time, it will raise the banners of Caribbean dignity and freedom higher and higher."

Raul Castro Underscores Regional Compensation System, the Sucre

HAVANA, Cuba , April 16 (acn) Cuban President Raul Castro today underscored the Unique Regional Compensation System known by its acronyms SUCRE , as he addressed heads of state and government at the Summit of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA), held in Venezuela.

The work undertaken by the ALBA plus Ecuador since November 2008 to set up the SUCRE is particularly significant, said the Cuban President, who described the initiative as a key factor to boost trade in the context of the regional integration mechanism, according to PL news agency.

The advances made in that first step are aimed at setting up a common monetary unit, said Raul Castro and ratified Cuba ’s vocation of solidarity towards Latin America and the Caribbean.

The regional integration initiative, ALBA, has instruments to face today’s world crisis, but he went on to warn that nobody would escape the crisis; however this group made up of six full member nations and another three with observer status has the tools to partially counter the effects of the crisis.

The crisis poses huge challenges of incalculable and unforeseeable dimensions, “so we have no other choice than to unite in order to face it,” he stressed as he warned that the economic and social crisis already has a global character, which is not only limited to the financial sector. It constitutes a world scourge with deep structural roots that include the collapse of the stock market and production, he said.

Such a situation leads to the freezing of growth and to economic recession along with the shrinking of world trade and the increase of unemployment and poverty, said the Cuban head of state. He added that the situation also affects thousands of millions of people in South countries, who are the ones who, as usual, will suffer the most from the consequences stemming from the irresponsible practice of deregulation and financial speculation and the imposition of neo-liberalism.

Raul Castro accused the United States for making deliberate use of the privileges offered by the current international economic order, which allows that country to print money without any backing, along with warmongering and unsustainable consumerism.

In fact, the crisis is the foreseeable result of the capitalist system of production and distribution, and the neo-liberal policies worsened its scope, said Raul. He warned that, in the search for solutions, those responsible end up with increased power and wealth, while the exploited and the poorest assume the bulk of the cost.

The answer can not negotiated on the back of the United Nations by the leaders of the most powerful countries, or by means of administrative measures because their nature is structural and increasingly affect the economy of the globalized and inter-dependent planet, he pointed out.

Neither can the solution be the strengthening of financial institutions like the International Monetary Fund, whose disastrous policies contributed decisively to the genesis and development of the crisis. The solution given by the G-20 does not solve inequality or injustice, Raul stressed. It is the same rhetoric of North countries, of not implementing protectionist measures and handing out assistance that does not alter underdevelopment.

Raul Castro recalled that after a G-20 meeting, held six months ago in Washington, the World Bank had counted 73 protectionist actions implemented by members of the group, without any increase in official assistance for development.

The ALBA countries, said Raul, have the privilege of sharing a project based on integrated principles on the basis of equality and whose nature denies all the kinds of practice that generated the current crisis.

He explained that the ALBA nations do not have the capacity to structurally change the world economic order, but they can set up a new basis and build their own economic relations. “Our most important programs are not linked to financial speculation and uncontrolled market fluctuation,” he said.

PL news reports that participating in the Summit are Bolivia ’s Evo Morales, Honduras´ Manuel Zelaya, Nicaragua ’s Daniel Ortega, Venezuela ’s Hugo Chavez and Dominica ’s Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit.

Paraguay´s President Fernando Lugo, the Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Ralph Gonsalves and Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Fander Falconi, representing Rafael Correa, are attending as guests. Also present are the president of the UN General Assembly Miguel D´Escoto and the president of the ALBA Bank Bernardo Alvarez.

(Destaca Raúl Castro sistema de compensación regional Sucre)

ALBA Countries Express Strong Support of Cuba against US Economic Blockade

HAVANA, Cuba, April 17 (acn)The countries making up the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA) expressed, during their summit in Venezuela, their strong support of Cuba´s struggle against the nearly-50-year US economic, commercial and financial blockade.

After listening to the statements by participants at the meeting, Cuban President Raul Castro thanked for the expressions of support that marked a large part of the Summit, which also analyzed the world economic crisis and its impact on the region.

Raul Castro recalled that almost all countries on the planet, with the exception of the United States and Israel and some other countries, condemn the blockade imposed by Washington on the Caribbean nation for nearly 50 years now.

He affirmed Cuba´s willingness to address any topic with the United States, under equal conditions and on the basis of respect for the right of the Cuban people to self-determination. In that direction, Raul included among the topics for negotiations the issue concerning the counterrevolutionaries incarcerated in Cuba, whom Washington refers to as “political prisoners.”

“If they want the release of those prisoners, who include some confessed terrorists, they must release our five heroes who are incarcerated for fighting terrorism and for defending the Cuban people, and then we will send them the so-called dissidents and their families,” said Raul Castro.

The Cuban President recalled that the five Cubans are held in US jails for collecting information on terrorist organizations in order to prevent criminal actions against Cuba.

Raul Castro particularly criticized the Organization of American States for its actions against Cuba as it backed US hostility and aggressions against the Caribbean nation. Blood has been oozing out of the Organization of American States since its very creation; Cuba is an example of that and there are many other examples, said the Cuban President who recalled the 1954 invasion on Guatemala after President Jacobo Arbenz tried to distribute land among the needed indigenous population.

He said that in April 16, 1961, the bombing of Cuban air bases took place as part of a military aggression organized by the United States, even when Cuba had not yet mentioned the word Socialism.

The Cuban President said that during the mourning ceremony to the victims of the bombing, Fidel Castro proclaimed Socialism and a huge mass of people expressed their determination to fight back the aggression at any cost.

He said that with the Bay of Pigs Invasion or Playa Giron as Cubans named it, the invaders expected to set up a beach head to pave the way for the Organization of American States to recognize a puppet government set up in Florida and give green light to the US military invasion.

On that occasion US military aircraft flew over the combat zone, though they did not participate in the actions, while ships from the US navy were seen just three miles from the Cuban coast, Raul said and explained that such a situation was the reason why the OAS had not yet expelled Cuba since they expected to recognize the puppet government that would ask the OAS for help, and the US armed forces would have acted.

However, in January 1962 the United States broke relations with Cuba and just few days later the Organization of American States expelled Cuba from its membership, since they were planning an invasion by the US forces, and what prevented that invasion from taking place were the soviet missiles that were set up in Cuba, a fact proven by declassified documents, Raul Castro recalled.

Previously, the Cuban President reaffirmed his country rejection of returning to the Organization of American States as he had expressed during the Rio Group Summit, in Sauipe, Brazil. He said on that occasion he recalled a phrase by Cuban National Hero Jose Martí that he used in that direction: “Before Cuba joins the OAS, the North Sea and the South Sea should mix and a snake will be born from an eagles’ egg.”

Upon his arrival in Cumaná, the Cuban president stressed the coincidence of the ALBA Summit with the 48th Anniverssary of the April 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion, organized by the United States.

(Recibe Cuba apoyo del Alba en su lucha contra el bloqueo)

Cuban VP of Council of Ministers Meets Honduran President

HAVANA, Cuba, March 4 (acn) Ricardo Cabrisas, Vice President of the Cuban Council of Ministers, met on Tuesday with Honduran President Jose Manuel Zelaya, who is in Cuba participating in the 11th International Meeting of Economists on Globalization and Development Problems that is underway in Havana.

According to Prensa Latina news agency, Cabrisas thanked the visitor for his country's rejection of the US economic blockade against the Caribbean archipelago at all international forums.

For his part, Zelaya ratified their position against this hostile and aggressive policy of the US Government over the last 50 years.

Both leaders spoke about diverse topics including regional initiatives in favour of unity and integration. They also highlighted the importance of the first Summit of Latin America and the Caribbean on Integration and Development that took place in Brazil recently.

(Dialogan Ricardo Cabrisas y Presidente hondureño)