ALBA Meet boosts regional coop

Venezuela: The objective of a more integrated Latin America marked this week in Venezuela, which hosted the seventh Summit of the Bolivarian Alternative for the People of our America (ALBA).

Beyond projects, cooperation strategies and mutually beneficial agreements, the summit's final declaration was especially important because it stated the bloc's position on crucially important issues.

All ALBA member countries agreed on their rejection of the economic and financial blockade the United States have been imposing on Cuba for the last 50 years.

The final declaration also considered insufficient and unacceptable the draft of the Fifth Summit of the Americas being held in Trinidad and Tobago this weekend. The ALBA members not only reiterated their demand to lift the US blockade on the island, but also that to stop applying the Helms-Burton Act, due to its extraterritorial nature, the text said.

The ALBA leaders also condemned destabilizing actions in Bolivia, and expressed support for that country.

The declaration read by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez included a harsh condemnation to the presence and actions of international and national terrorist groups that are trying to create chaos and even assassinate the Bolivian president.

The Seventh ALBA Summit final statement also questioned the G-20 group for increasing threefold the International Monetary Fund (IMF) funds. Caracas, Prensa Latina