Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas

The Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA – from the Spanish name, Alianza Bolivariana para los Pueblos de Nuestra América) “is an alternative approach to economic, social, cultural and political integration that aims to foster trade, development and unity among the nations of Latin America and the Caribbean on the basis of a set of principles distinct from those underlying conventional integration efforts” (Backer & Molina 2009: 109–110). The idea first emerged in discussions between Cuba's Fidel Castro and Venezuela's Hugo Chávez in 1994 (Cole 2008: 6), and it began to take formal shape with the Cuba–Venezuela Integral Cooperation Agreement in 2000. The acronym “ALBA” was used publicly for the first time (by Chávez) at the December 2001 Association of Caribbean States Summit (Muhr forthcoming: 6 and 3; Blake 2009: 98). The alliance finally took institutional shape on December 14, 2004, with a formal agreement between the governments of Cuba and Venezuela (Backer & Molina 2009: 119). It was joined in 2006 by Bolivia, in 2007 by Nicaragua, in 2008 by Dominica, and in 2009 by Ecuador, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Antigua and Barbuda. Honduras joined in 2008, but a coup the next year resulted in a change of government and a decision to withdraw from the alliance in early 2010 (Hart-Landsberg 2010: 17).