ALBA & Petrocaribe An Alternative to Neo-Liberal Integration?

1. ALBA & PetrocaribeAn Alternative to Neo-Liberal Integration? A Preliminary Evaluation from a CARCOM Perspective Norman Girvan

2. ALBA GUIDING PRINCIPLES • Solidarity • Complementarity • Compensatory financing for the treatment of asymmetries • Differentiated treatment of countries according to their circumstances

3. ALBA PRINCIPLES AND RULES • Trade and investment to be instruments of fair and sustainable development with effective participation of the State. • Special and differentiated treatment for participating countries according to their level of development and size • Economic complementarity and cooperation between countries to preserve efficient and productive specialization and balanced economic development • Cooperation and solidarity for a Continental fight against illiteracy provide free healthcare and a scholarship programme. • Creation of a Social Emergency Fund • Integrated development of communications and transport • Protection of the environment • Energy integration • Promotion of intra-Latin American Investment through a Latin American Investment Bank, a Bank of Development of the South and a Latin American Society of Reciprocal Guarantees • Defense of cultural identity: creation of TELESUR. • Intellectual Property Rights to protect the patrimony of the region while not becoming an obstacle to cooperation • Harmonization of positions in multilateral fora, including democratization of international organizations particularly the United Nations system.

4. CARIBBEAN ALBA • The fight against poverty and social exclusion • Joint Plan for food security • Power and mining development for the development of joint production chains • Portfolio of integrated investments • Academic and cultural exchange • Tourism—cooperation in human resource development, air transport, and other areas • Environmental conservation • Caribbean regional market—intra-regional trade • Prevention and management of natural disasters

5. PRACTICE • Concessional financing for energy import bills • Use for state-owned industries, physical and social infrastructure, • Support for projects in health and education that directly benefit the poor • Non-reciprocal trading arrangements.

6. ALBA FINANCIAL COOPERATION • Venezuela - $100 million to Bolivia on joining ALBA - additional $30 million for infrastructure • ALBA Caribe Fundcreated within the PC framework for ALBA countries - 25 percent of bill for imports of crude oil from Venezuela credited to this Fund to fight poverty •  ALBA Bank (BALBA) support sustainable social and economic development, reduce poverty and strengthen integration - authorized capital of $2 billion subscribed capital of $1 billion.

7. ALBA TRADE RELATIONS • Non-reciprocity - Cuba agreed to grant duty-free access to Venezuelan imports and to remove non-tariff barriers; while in return Venezuela has agreed to eliminate only non-tariff barriers on Cuban imports • Compensated trade - through direct product exchanges – Dominica is allowed to pay for 40 percent of its Petrocaribe oil imports with exports of bananas • Trade agreements negotiated on a case-by-case basis, allowing for flexibility of commitmentaccording to country circumstances. • Reciprocal Credit Arrangements Venezuela-Cuba Agreement.

8. SOCIAL COOPERATION • Health and education – role of Cuba  • 30,000 doctors are providing free services to the poor throughout Latin America and the Caribbean • 70,000 students are receiving training as health professionals; over two million have been made literate and 600,000 people have ‘had their sight restored via Operation Miracle and free surgical operations’. • ALBA agreements provide for 2000 Cuban scholarships per year for Venezuela and 5000 Cuban medical scholarships for Bolivia. Bolivia is reportedly benefiting from 600 Cuban medical specialists and Venezuela has 15,000 Cuban medical professionals working in its Barrio Adentro Mission. • Dominica, over 100 students reportedly attending Cuban medical and nursing schools and approximately 75 Dominican students are in other Cuban schools. 2,000 Venezuelan and Cuban scholarships are available to qualified Dominican students in computer science, medicine, engineering, sports, physics, math, and agriculture’.

9. Petrocaribe has become the most important single source of concessional financing for the 16 beneficiary countries • PC Credits June 2005--December 2007: $1,170 million; $468 million/year; 2008 data unavailable. • U.S. Foreign Assistance to Caribbean FYs 2005-2007 $340 million/year • IDB disbursements to 16 PC participating countries in FY 2008 - $100 million • Jamaica - $471 M PC credits June 2005-March 2008; US assistance FYs 2005-2007 amounted to $58 million.

10. POTENTIAL NEGATIVES OF ALBA • Donor dependency • Energy dependency • Economic vulnerability • Political vulnerability • State-centric, as opposed to ‘grassroots’ or community-based development • Capital intensive, potentially environmentally damaging projects • Transparency/accountability issues • Potential for corruption • Democratic, participatory governance should be integral to ALBA

11. Letter from London, March 2, 2009 “1,700 young people registered and came to the "6 Billion Ways" conference organised by some NGOs and social movements, and guest speakers from the South (including self) were constantly on demand. The youth are yearning for answers to issues posed by the present crises.  The answers, I think, will have to come from the South -- it is the oppressed who have the answers on how to get out of the situation, not the oppressors.”

12. From Jamaica Youth and Elders in Solidarity with Cuba YESCuba, Bulletin No. 6 • Can you imagine waking every morning and not having to worry about crime?    • Can you imagine hearing a knock on your door; then when you open the door, there stands a doctor whose responsibility is to check with your family to see if everyone is doing ok – and if not, to ensure that they receive the treatment they need free of cost?    • Can you imagine Jamaica experiencing a hurricane that inflicts serious damage to homes, schools and business places; but within days classes resume with classrooms being the verandahs of individual homes in the community?    • Can you imagine Jamaica being visited almost daily by foreign heads of states, ministers of foreign governments or some other foreign dignitary?  • Can you imagine elections being manned by primary school students and not hear one report of indiscipline or fraud?    • Can you imagine a Jamaica with less than 1% illiteracy? • We can.    • As  Fidel said, ‘Otro Mundo Es Posible’, meaning,  another world is possible so long as we are willing to work towards and struggle for it. 

13. Links • ALBA, Petrocaribe and Caricom, Norman Girvan • Movimientos Sociales con el ALBA • ALBA website • Petrocaribe website