14ymedio, Yunior García Aguilera, Madrid, 27 April 2024 — Alba-TCP, the alliance created by Hugo Chávez and Fidel Castro, has reached 20 years with the vitality of an “almendrón,” a 1950s American car, without spare parts. The high price of oil during those founding years was the viagra that unleashed the social-imperialist fantasies of both leaders. But with the subsequent fall in crude oil prices, as well as the death of its ideologues, the organization experienced a stage of flaccidity that they are now trying to shake up with motivating speeches and new agendas.
Josefina Vidal leaked a few words to show the early detumescence of the Bolivarian Alliance. In an interview with Prensa Latina, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Cuba talked about affectations, lack of economic resources, programs on a smaller scale, coercive measures and blockades. Of course, she did not refer to the political and economic crisis that Venezuela is experiencing, nor to the crisis of attractiveness suffered by the Cuban regime. Thus, without a pipe gushing petrodollars and charismatic leadership, Alba offers less light than a night without a moon.
The idea of this “alternative” emerged as a counterpart to Alca. Since the time of Bush senior in 1988, the United States had tried to create a free trade area that ran from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, with 34 nations and a market of 800 million people. The asymmetry between the countries of the hemisphere aroused suspicions around the project, but many saw more benefit than danger in its concretization. In 1993, Bill Clinton signed the agreement, to take effect in 1994. However, when the IV Summit of the Americas arrived in 2005, Bush junior received a “No” in response, and Hugo Chávez mounted a parallel organization with a slogan that went viral: Alca, Alca, go to Hell!
