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The Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (Spanish: Alternativa Bolivariana para las Américas or ALBA - which also means 'dawn' in Spanish) is a political, social and economic cooperation and complementation vision of integration between the Latin American countries, proposed by the government of Venezuela as an alternative to the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA or ALCA in Spanish) proposed by the United States. While the ALBA itself has not yet become a hemispheric-wide trade agreement, Venezuela, Cuba, and Bolivia have entered into a Peoples' Trade Agreement (Spanish: "Tratado de Comercio de los Pueblos" - TCP) which aims to implement the principles of ALBA between those three nations.

Map of participants in the TCP

The adjective Bolivarian refers to general Simón Bolívar, the hero of the wars against colonial allegiance power Spain that helped several South American states or their forerunners to gain independence by rebellion, and a major figure in Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez's hemispheric Bolivarian ideology.

The ALBA fundamentally and explicitly rejects many of the principles embodied in neoliberal free trade agreements. Instead, it strives to practice principles of cooperation and resource transfer, as well as supporting cooperative, family, and small-scale producers. A good example of this vision in practice are the results of the initial Cuba-Venezuela TCP, which was signed on December 14, 2004 by Presidents Hugo Chávez and Fidel Castro. The agreement was aimed at the exchange of medical resources and petroleum between both nations. Venezuela delivers about 96,000 barrels of oil per day from its state-owned petroleum operations to Cuba at very favorable prices and Cuba in exchange sent 20,000 state-employed medical staff and thousands of teachers to Venezuela's slums.

President Evo Morales of poor but gas-rich Bolivia joined the TCP on April 29, 2006, only days before he announced his intention to nationalize Bolivia's hydrocarbon assets. Newly elected President Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua, signed the agreement in January 2007; Venezuela agreed to forgive Nicaragua's $31 million debt as a result. On February 23, 2007 Ortega visited Caracas to solidify Nicaragua's participation in ALBA.[1] One week prior, three Caribbean states, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Dominica, and Antigua and Barbuda, also joined ALBA.[2] Rafael Correa, the president-elect of Ecuador, signed a joint agreement with Hugo Chávez, to become a member of ALBA once he becomes president.[3]

• Free trade
• Free trade area
• International trade
• PetroCaribe
• Trade bloc
• Mercosur
• Andean Community of Nations
• North American Free Trade Agreement
• South American Community of Nations
• Latin American Free Trade Agreement

• Venezuela's Answer to "Free Trade": The Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (December 7, 2006) - Focus on the Global South
• Cuba, Bolivia, Venezuela celebrate alternative to US-led trade pacts (April 30th, 2006) - Jamaica Observer
• Venezuela and the Caribbean (April 21st 2006) - Stabroek Newspaper Guyana.
• Editorial: Hugo Chávez and the Americans (May 12th 2005) - Stabroek Newspaper Guyana.
• Commentary: Is Mr Chavez's Bolivarian Alternative attractive? (February 26th 2004) - Stabroek Newspaper Guyana.
• Text of December 14, 2004 agreement between Venezuela and Cuba for the application of ALBA
• Venezuelan and Ecuadorian Presidents Seal Friendship with Joint Declaration (Dec 22nd, 2006) Venezuela Analysis