Caribbean 360 – June 27

RIO, Brazil, Wednesday June 27, 2012 ƒÆ’†’ƒ”š‚¢ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢¢”š¬…¡ƒ”š‚¬ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…- Dominica, Cuba and Venezuela have joined the foreign ministers of Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua in requesting that the heads of government of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA) effect the immediate expulsion of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) from the countries of the ALBA bloc.

The resolution was passed following an ALBA foreign ministers meetingin Rio, Brazil last Thursday. The statement was subsequently published in Spanish in the Cuban ƒÆ’†’ƒ”š‚¢ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢¢”š¬…¡ƒ”š‚¬ƒÆ’-¹ƒ…-GrandmaƒÆ’†’ƒ”š‚¢ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢¢”š¬…¡ƒ”š‚¬ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢¢”š¬…¾ƒ”š‚¢ newspaper.

Apart from Dominica, the two other English speaking countries in the ALBA bloc, Antigua and Barbuda and St Vincent and the Grenadines, did not sign on to the declaration.

An English language version of the statement said in part: To requestthe Heads of State and Government of the States Parties to the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas for the immediate expulsion to their countries of USAID, its delegates or representatives, on the grounds that their presence and activities are a factor of disturbance which threatens the sovereignty and political stability of our nations. The statement maintains that USAID openly interferes in the internal politics of the ALBA countries, under the pretext of “planning and managing the economic and humanitarian assistance outside the United States and around the world” through NGO funding, actions and projects aimed at undermining legitimate governments who are not sympathetic to their interests.

The foreign ministers reportedly based their conclusions on evidence from declassified US State Department documents which show that USAID funds organizations and political parties opposed to the governments of
the ALBA countries in a clear and blatant interference in the internal politics of each nation. According to the statement: ƒÆ’†’ƒ”š‚¢ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢¢”š¬…¡ƒ”š‚¬ƒÆ’-¦ƒ¢¢”š¬…”It was considered that in the majority of ALBA countries USAID, through its various organizations and facades, acting illegally and with impunity, without a legal framework for it, and illegally funding media, political leaders, organizations NGOs, among others. Knowing that through these financing programs take shelter a group of NGOs promoting all kinds of fundamentalism to conspire to limit the powers of our states and in many cases plunder our natural resources in large areas that seek to dominate their free will.ƒÆ’†’ƒ”š‚¢ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢¢”š¬…¡ƒ”š‚¬ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚, the statement added.