Prensa Latina: "El Salvador May Join ALBA"

[magbana]

"El Salvador May Join ALBA

Havana, Mar 18 (Prensa Latina) The newly-elected government of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front in El Salvador is interested in strengthening ties with ALBA countries, FMLN Representative in Cuba Alfredo Elias said.

According to Elias, El Salvador has already been benefitting from the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA) by getting oil, fertilizers and medical aid Venezuela and Cuba, ALBA´s two main pillars.

We should establish relations with all nations, Elias said on Cuba´s national television.

He also said reestablishing diplomatic ties with Cuba should be a priority for the future government.

"For us, Cubans are blood brothers," said the FMLN representative, who recalled Cuba´s solidarity to El Salvador.

In the past, Cuban hospitals were open to our war victims, while right now, many Salvadorans are having free eye surgery here, or are studying at Cuban universities, Elias said.

According to Elias, the FMLN will inherit a complex social panorama in El Salvador, characterized by extreme violence and emigration to the United States, as well as a free trade agreement with the US government that resulted in layoffs, a devastated agriculture, increased tariffs and the dollarization of the economy of one of the poorest countries in the region.

Based on that, we asked all social organizations and the people for support to design an action program that will prioritize the reactivation of agriculture, he explained.

Sunday FMLN's victory in El Salvador put an end to 20 years of administration by the rightwing National Republican Alliance (ARENA). The new government will be sworn in on June 1.

ALBA is made up of Cuba, Nicaragua, Honduras, Bolivia, Dominica and Venezuela.

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PL-13"
http://www.prensa-latinaenglish.com/article.asp?ID={F1BE4079-6D0F-4E0B-AAA5-0C9FF9E7A4B9}&language=EN

[Peace Patriot]

1. "...prioritize the reactivation of agriculture..." --something that many "shocked and awed" L/A

economies have suffered, along with neglect for local manufacturing and jobs, local infrastructure, and of course education, health care and all forward-looking, progressive, bootstrapping of the poor social programs..

In Venezuela, the local oiligarchy--the minority rightwing rich who ruled for so long--left the country with nearly total food insecurity (importing most food), and complete neglect of local manufacturing as well. They were even importing machine parts for the oil industry. The Chavez government is changing all that, with an intelligent, well thought out land reform program, and development of small business. Chavez has overseen five years in a row with nearly 10% economic growth--an astonishing feat--most of it in the private sector (not including oil). His government has also given great attention to local and regional infrastructure, and local and regional control of finance and development money.

This is the ironic thing about all these rightwing governments that allied with U.S. capitalists, and parading as patriots at home (just like our fascists). They ended up committing something close to treason--selling their countries out to rampant exploitation of resources and workers, with World Bank/IMF indebtedness at the cost of social programs--the "neoliberal" model: let us make you 5% rich and fuck over everybody else in your country.

I'm glad to hear that the Funes/FMLN government is going to start addressing these impacts of U.S. domination right away, and with smart innovations like joining ALBA (Latin American barter trade group, by which, say Venezuela gets Cuban doctors to staff all of its new medical clinics for the poor, and Cuba gets cheap oil). As our predatory capitalist economy hits the wall--due to massive greed and mismanagement--we may all need barter arrangements to survive and keep things going. The Latin Americans have some things like this to teach us. They got hit with "shock and awe" economics before we did. But to recover, the first step is transparent elections. Our elections are not even close to transparent, and put us in great peril of a regression back to Bushwhack barbarism.

[Judi Lynn]

2. It's great learning they have already been interacting on some levels with Cuba,

sending their eye patients there for eye surgery, like Venezuela does, and Caribbean islands, and other Latin American countries, even under the control of ARENA President Tony Saca.

It's wonderful hearing they're considering joining the ALBA organization. Looking forward to their coming together, working together with the people of these other countries for their common good, which was impossible before now.