The Bolivarian Alliance (ALBA)

in Central America
The Subversion of American Interests
November 18, 2010
“Death to American (US) imperialism. If it does not die, we will
die, brothers. Let us choose then, or the empire dies, or we die,
let each of us choose…”

President Evo Morales Ayma

Managua, Nicaragua at the entry of Nicaragua into the ALBA
January 15, 2007
 “If they swear in Micheletti (Roberto Micheletti – Interim President of
Honduras), or Peleletti or Gafetti or Goriletti, we will overthrow him. We
will do all that we have to do, to assure that Manuel Zelaya is returned to
his job (…) I have placed the Venezuelan army on alert.”

Televised declaration of Hugo Chavez, June 29, 2009 in the

aftermath of the Honduran people firing their wayward
president
 Nicaragua
• ALBA finances ALBANISA, an “octopus” company owned by
Ortega. Funded “0 Hunger”, “Yes I Can”, paying $25 per civil
servant, subsidizing public transport in Managua.
• ALBA is financing the dredging of the Rio San Juan
• $1bn officially from Vzla, up to $7billion
• ALBANISA has made Ortega one of the wealthiest Nicaraguans
• ALBA gave Nicaragua $50 when MCC cancelled fund due to
2008 election fraud (now US embassy has announced they are
willing to renew the funds)
• Venezuela identified by 50% or population as the primary donor
in Nicaragua
 Honduras
• Zelaya entered as a moderate. Through contact with Chavez became radical,
joined ALBA
• Tried to change the constitution
• Removed from power by orders of Supreme court
• ALBA controlled OAS response, got Honduras expelled
• ALBA rallied Zelayistas, in Nicaragua, almost invaded
• Continues to control OAS, still pushing for an illegal referendum
• $100 ALBA money missing, transferred to presidential place during the last
months of Zelaya
• Zelaya was going to close down Soto Cano
• Zelaya still leads FNRP, continues to undermine Honduran democracy while
Ven gives him presidency of Petrocaribe
• He may be back
 El Salvador
• Mauricio Funes has said ES will not enter ALBA
• Vice President Sanchez Ceren says entry into ALBA
“only natural”
• In 2006 ALBA Petroleum of ES – special arrangement
formed with 20 FMLN mayors (including San Salvador)
• Generally speaking, creative way to sell subsidized gas at
normal rates to fund political activity (same accusations
in DR, in Nicaragua)
• Pressure within FMLN to enter ALBA must be significant
• Target country from FSLN “Revolutionary Brotherhood”
 21 Century Socialism
st

• Taken from “Revolutionary Brotherhood – Nicaragua’s 21st Century

Socialism”
– Create conflicts: External (with US, neighbors), Internal (poor/rich)
– Rewrite Constitutions (Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, and almost Honduras),
extend presidential limits
– Create link leader-citizen power. Do away with other institutions (communes in
Venezuela)
– Co-opt institutions of state under the parties
– Transform armed forces to defend “revolution”
– Divide the opposition
– Ally with key sectors of business
– Rebuild revolutionary spirit
– Dominate media
– Expansionist (looking to add El Salvador and Dominican Republic)
 21 Century Socialism
st

• Direct Democracy
– Distills all rights down to one simple act: “VOTE”
• People surrender all other basic rights to “participate” – in broad
areas and where they are told.
• Government acts like a political party
• Uses the vote to do away with separation of powers, right to
private property, right to free speech, right to due process, etc.
– Rests upon the theory of a “permanent majority”
• Constant referenda, violent events (such as Ecuador’s police
situation) to shore up support
• Significant social spending to purchase votes
• Communicational hegemony
 PetroCaribe
• 18 member countries
• Petro-indebtedness: “so that debt, instead of a weight becomes
another force for liberation against asymmetries, and result in a
new development model for Petrocaribe countries”
• Petrocaribe countries owe Vzla $4.5 billion
• Main question – if the consumer is buying gas at the stations, why
are countries racking up debt?
• When Hondurans fired Zelaya, Vzla immediately suspended oil
shipments
• PetroCaribe funds the ALBA Caribe Fund (which has converted
recently into the ALBA Bank), 84 projects in 11 countries for more
than $170 million
“Honoring the debt to democracy (…) means strengthening our systems of
checks and balance, which are profoundly threatened
by the presence of tentacular governments that have erased the
boundaries between government, party and state. It means assuring the
employ of a solid nucleus of fundamental rights and
guarantees, which are chronically debilitated in a large part of the Latin
American region. And it means, first of all, the use of political power to
achieve a better level of human development, the
improvement of the conditions of life of our inhabitants and the expansion
of freedoms of our citizens.”

Oscar Arias Sanchez, President of Costa Rica 2006 - 2010

 Joel D. Hirst
International Affairs Fellow
Council on Foreign Relations
jhirst@cfr.org
www.joelhirst.com
www.twitter.com/joelhirst
Facebook Public Figure Joel Hirst
For a longer PowerPoint on the ALBA, visit
www.scribd.com/hirstjd