Honduras Already
Benefiting from ALBA
TEGUCIGALPA - Honduras
will officially join the
Bolivarian Alternative
for the the Americas
(ALBA) on August 25, but
country is already
benefiting from the
initiative.
According to Member of
Parliament Doris
Gutierrez, from the
leftwing Democratic
Unification Party (PUD)
some ALBA-supported
projects are already
being implemented in
energy, health,
education and
agriculture sectors.
"Thousands of low-income
Hondurans have received
free of charge eye
surgery in Venezuela and
many farmers' sons have
been granted
scholarships to study in
Venezuela," Gutierrez
told Prensa Latina.
Honduras also joined
Petrocaribe, a Caribbean
oil alliance with
Venezuela to purchase
oil on conditions of
preferential payment.
Gutierrez said that the
implementation of a Free
Trade Agreement with the
United States has
weakened the Honduran
currency, while exports
dropped and poverty
increased.
Unlike FTA, ALBA is a
real alternative to the
people, not to
transnationals.
ALBA was created in
December 2004 as an
integrationist
initiative with the
participation of
Bolivia, Cuba, Dominica,
Nicaragua and Venezuela.
Its aim is to fight
poverty and exclusion. |
