We want a model which really integrates us, not a model that disintegrates us or integrates one country at the expense of the disintegration of others. This cannot be the path. Therefore, Venezuela modestly and humbly proposes that the people of the Caribbean and Latin America start thinking of a another alternative at last, because we believe that this one is not possible. It occurred to us to launch a proposal, which could be called ALBA, Bolivarian Alternative for the peoples of Our America. It is a new concept of integration, which is nothing new. It is a question of bringing life back to a dream that we believe possible. It is about another path, another search, because integration is certainly vital for us: We stand together or we sink. Let us then choose the alternatives.

Hugo Chávez Frías, President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela

Fellows, the times in which we live, show signs that the confrontation is further intensified in Latin America and Caribbean the clash is sharpened between two historical forces, on the one hand a political and economic model , which is dependent, elitist and exploitative, heir of colonialism and neocolonialism, subordinated to the interests of the empire. On the other hand, is the advance of the revolutionary and progressive political forces that represent the traditionally dispossessed and discriminated classes. These forces are committed to the social justice, real independence of the peoples of the region, and the aspiration for a fair distribution of the immense riches of the Continent. In essence, it is about the historical fight to materialize the realization of the Bolivarian and Marti’s vision in our America.

Raúl Castro, President of the Republic of Cuba

Only the unity of action of the Latin-American and Caribbean countries, based on the principles of cooperation, complementarity, mutual help and solidarity will allow us to preserve independence, sovereignty and identity, as well as to face successfully the tendencies towards unilateralism and hegemonic aspirations, strengthening a Peoples' Trade Treaty, the fight for the improvement of mankind and, also, for friendship and solidarity; and peace between the peoples of the world must be every government's moral obligation.

Evo Morales Ayma, President of the Republic of Bolivia

What would look, at first sight, like a mere criticism of the former models, has become, in nearly six years, a wide alternative framework, underpinned by new principles, and a reality that has made itself felt among the peoples of our America. Solidarity, economic complementarities, fair trade, integral cooperation and the strict respect of our sovereignty, are the fundamental ideas of the ALBA. These ideas, made apparent in practice, constitute a radical break with the classical colonial patterns or neo-imperialist schemes based upon unfair competition, hegemony, fiction of a free market and the intention to achieve the political domination.

Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

After the odious neoliberal period that we lived in Latin America and the Caribbean, and which brought about the collapse of our economies, thus increasing social inequalities and shortage as to the living conditions of our population. In those days, everything was nearly sheer desolation. Then, the hope of our peoples is reborn with the President Hugo Chávez and Fidel Castro. The proposal of the Bolivarian Alternative for the peoples of Our America (ALBA) , emerged to represent the chances of relaunching our nations, especially because the options that came from the hegemonic centers of the world power constituted projects, anchored in the old economic integration schemes, which had caused the disaster in the 1980s and 1990s.

Roosevelt Skerrit, Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Dominica

The ALBA is inspired by an integral political orientation, which claims the inalienable rights of its peoples and sovereignty of its countries, and rejects all kinds of tutelage and foreign intervention, as well as neocolonialist practices, in order to organize its future of dignity, common well-being and equitable development. The ALBA, which has emerged as a project of unity, born from the deepest of our history, is aimed at transforming the Latin-American and Caribbean companies, through making them fairer, participatory and socially inclusive via the elimination of the social inequalities, promotion of the quality of life and an effective contribution of the peoples in the shaping of their own destiny.

Rafael Correa, President of the Republic of Ecuador

The ALBA guiding principles are totally opposed to those associated with the failed models of neoliberal development. The ALBA promotes complementarities, as an alternative to competition; solidarity, in front of domination; cooperation, as a substitute of exploitation; and respect for sovereignty, rather than corporate norms. Antigua and Barbuda openly adopts these principles. We must point out that the support received from PETROCARIBE was not at the expense of our dignity or our sovereignty, but it is deeply rooted in the principles of complementarity, solidarity, cooperation and respect for sovereignty.

Winston Baldwin Spencer, Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda

In Nicaragua, these neoliberal policies have created a social emergency situation, where millions of citizens have been denied access to education, health and decent employment, forcing hundreds of thousands of Nicaraguan men and women to live the painful experience of emigration and uprooting. The overcoming of the neoliberal model and its effects in the region implies a strategic alliance between the States and the peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean...

Daniel Ortega Saavedra, President of the Republic of Nicaragua