The US Must Change and
the World Too: Alarcón
HAVANA - The President
of the Cuban parliament,
Ricardo Alarcón, said
today that the current
crisis of neoliberalism
and preeminence of the
market compel the US to
change and the rest of
the world too.
Alarcon resumed the
inaugural ceremony of
the Seminar
“Achievements and
Challenges of the
Bolivarian Alternative
for the Peoples of our
America (ALBA)”
which ende tomorrow in
this capital.
In his speech, he
affirmed the initial
questioning or
resistance to
neoliberalism is today
motive for consensus not
only in the American
continent.
Nobody knows what will
happen, but the obvious
is the need to find
alternatives to a model
that is at least in a
critical situation, he
said.
He recalled that the US
presidential candidates,
despite their
differences, have had to
agree in the need for
change and none
advocates to keep things
as they are. Alarcon
emphasized that the
system imposed on the
planet cannot hide its
failure and is highly
immoral, because in
spite of existing ways
to prevent it, many
millions of persons
still suffer from hunger
and social exclusion.
We Latin Americans have
been victims of
neoliberalism, we have
endured many hard
experiences, but are
capable of imagining
posible alternatives, he
said when referring to
ALBA.
He said in Latin America
a will of independence
has taken roots and
discovered its
potentiality, as
governments cannot
depend on the market,
but on the peoples.
The idea that originated
ALBA is the same of the
ideals of our
forefathers and that
instrument aspires to be
seed to the great Latin
American motherland, he
concluded.
For his part, Jorge
Pizarro, president of
PARLATINO recalled that
ALBA was born as an
alternative to the Free
Trade Agreement of the
Americas (FTAA),
sponsored by the United
States, and its
permanent objective is
to fight poverty and
social injustice.
It is a proposal to be
given a second thought
to integration models
and looks basically for
regional unity in a
comprehensive
integration, he
stressed.
The Mexican Senator
Carlos Sotelo called on
participants to support
the recent declaration
passed by the Cuban
parliament against the
US blockade on the
island and claim for
freedom of the five
Cuban antiterrorists
imprisoned in the US,
move which was approved.
The meeting continued
with the analysis of a
work by Osvaldo
Martinez, president of
the Economic Affairs
Commission of the Cuban
parliament, on the
context and
philosophical basis of
the new integration of
Latin America and the
Caribbean.
Also, Jose Felix Rivas,
director of the Central
Bank of Venezuela, spoke
about the international
financial crisis seen
from the ALBA
perspective.
Attending the session
were Fernando Remirez,
member of the
Secretariat of the
Central Committee of the
Cuban Communist Party,
members of the
diplomatic corps and
about 50 legislators of
13 nations.
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