00:00Thank you, Mr. President.
00:04I want to recognize the President of the Republic
00:10of Venezuela and all the other Presidents of Cuba,
00:16of Nicaragua, and of Bolivia.
00:19Colleagues, Prime Ministers, Heads of Delegations,
00:22ladies and gentlemen, friends of all, good evening.
00:28I first want to congratulate President Maduro
00:33on his re-election in July.
00:36And to remind him that I was one of the first leaders
00:47in the world who sent congratulatory messages to him,
00:51having received the publication from the election authorities
00:58in Venezuela.
01:00And we do recognize you as the constitutionally elected
01:04President of the Bolivian Republic of Venezuela.
01:09And we wish you all the best as you take up another term
01:16on January 10, 2025.
01:21President Maduro, I've known you for about 18 or so years.
01:28And I've seen you serve President Chavez.
01:33And you served President Chavez dutifully, respectfully,
01:38and with great commitment and love.
01:42What I admire about you even more is that having assumed
01:47the office of President of Venezuela,
01:50you have maintained dutifully the mandate of President Chavez
01:56to the people of Venezuela and the revolution of Venezuela.
02:02You are a man of high integrity, commitment,
02:10and love for your people.
02:12And I salute you as the President of Venezuela
02:17and the Bolivian revolution.
02:20And rest assured you have my absolute solidarity, respect,
02:26friendship, and love as you maneuver the many challenges
02:32imposed upon you and your people by external forces.
02:37But we shall prevail, and you shall prevail,
02:40and the people of Venezuela shall prevail over adversity.
02:44Rest assured that you are not alone,
02:55and the people of Venezuela are not alone.
02:59I want also to take this opportunity to reaffirm
03:05our undying and unwavering solidarity
03:09with the government and people of Cuba,
03:17a nation that has played an enormous role
03:23in global solidarity and assisted so many nations
03:30in its efforts towards liberalization and independence.
03:34A heroic people, a brave people,
03:39and a people whom we have the highest regard for and love for.
03:46And we will always lend our voice.
03:50We shall never cease or desist from lending our voice
03:54to calling on the United States of America
03:57to end this unjust blockade against the people of Cuba.
04:01And I want to say to all of us
04:05that we must never be weary of making that call
04:09because we know that one day the Cuban people will triumph,
04:15and we know that justice will triumph over injustice,
04:19and we continue to stand in total solidarity
04:22with the government and people of Cuba.
04:25And of course we have with us our friends
04:29from the state of Palestine.
04:32My dear brother, I want to say to you
04:34that you are here among friends
04:37in the Caribbean and Latin America.
04:40We stand in absolute solidarity with the people of Palestine.
04:44You have taught all of us what resilience means,
04:55what determination means,
04:58and what dignity means.
05:01And in the face of so many decades of adversity,
05:04you have maintained the dignity of your people.
05:08And for that and many other reasons,
05:10we stand in absolute solidarity.
05:12And one day you shall sit among us,
05:15recognized by the entire world,
05:17as a truly independent state, the state of Palestine.
05:23Today we gather in Caracas, Venezuela,
05:27to observe the 20th anniversary of ALBA.
05:34I believe that the world owes Cuba and Venezuela
05:40a huge debt of gratitude for giving to the world
05:46two leaders, leaders who were ahead of their time,
05:53Commander Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez,
06:01both of whom I had the distinct pleasure as a young man
06:10to work with and to learn from.
06:16And I believe that we have a duty and obligation
06:19to carry on their legacy,
06:21carry on their work,
06:23carry on their efforts towards bringing dignity
06:27to every single citizen in this world
06:32and to ensure that every citizen in this world
06:35can enjoy the bounties of this world.
06:40And what we have seen ALBA do
06:46and many other cooperation frameworks
06:50which were devised by these two distinguished world leaders,
06:57we never thought, but many people thought
06:59that we would never be here celebrating 20 years.
07:02But ALBA has the...
07:06because ALBA was created out of a genuine desire
07:11towards addressing many of the injustices
07:14that the world confronted.
07:17And there is no other entity in this world
07:20that has such a mandate.
07:23We go to many international organizations
07:25and I remember President Chavez and President Castro saying,
07:29look, we do not want ALBA to be like any other organization.
07:33All of its note-taking and reading of minutes
07:36and long speeches, no.
07:39It is supposed to be a pragmatic
07:41and practical cooperation agreement
07:44that is results-oriented,
07:47addressing the issues confronting the citizens
07:50not only our space, but the global space.
07:53And ALBA has remained true to those ideals.
08:00I recall being asked to come to Cuba
08:05to have a meeting with President Chavez
08:08and President Castro.
08:14And I happened to come over a document.
08:17I am not a Spanish-speaking person,
08:19but I could understand some of the words in the document.
08:24And I recognized that this was an unprecedented document
08:30speaking about the cooperation between Cuba and Venezuela.
08:38And I remember saying to President Chavez
08:40and President Castro,
08:43how do I participate in this agreement?
08:48Speaking about fair trade,
08:51speaking about complementarity and working together.
08:56Ensuring that all of our people could be elevated
09:00and could have a decent life.
09:03And I am happy that eventually
09:06I was able to sign on behalf of my country, Dominica,
09:10and become a member of ALBA.
09:14We have never regretted that decision.
09:20And I say to everyone today
09:24that our decision is much stronger than it was then.
09:30Because it is absolutely important
09:35that the movement, the progressive movement,
09:39and when people talk about that movement,
09:43there are some that want to interpret it as anti-something.
09:49And the progressive movement is about injustices
09:53and make sure that people can live with dignity and respect.
09:58Respecting race, spirituality,
10:02and that people have access to a decent life with education,
10:07health, with jobs, where no discrimination is present.
10:14That's what progressive movements are.
10:18And that's what we are working on in the ALBA framework.
10:22And it is absolutely important
10:25that we maintain loyalty to the principles of ALBA
10:31because the world needs unity much more today than ever before.
10:36Among our countries.
10:40And, of course, it's not about intervening
10:44in political affairs of other countries,
10:47but it is important that we maintain unity
10:50in our political structures
10:53because there will always be attempts from abroad
10:57and even from inside to generate problems that do not exist.
11:01To generate disunity because in reality
11:06many don't want to see positive things
11:10that ALBA has achieved and continues to do,
11:14and that's why they want to separate our countries.
11:18For those who have a progressive side of life,
11:23we have to remain united.
11:26We have to overcome challenges working together,
11:30not only as heads of state and government,
11:34but also in our own political structures, in our countries,
11:39because we need that unity of our nations
11:43to make progress in ALBA
11:47and bring that progress to other groups, other regions.
11:56Twenty years later we are here
12:00and I'm committed to guarantee
12:03the legacy of Chavez and Fidel Castro
12:11to continue showing light in darkness
12:15and bring hope for those who don't want.
12:19That's our commitment.
12:21I don't want to talk too much, President.
12:24I want to say to you and all of you
12:28that you have our solidarity.
12:32And Dominica,
12:43we in the South, we have different forums.
12:48In the South we need leaders
12:52who are not negotiating principles.
12:56We cannot negotiate principles.
12:59We negotiate words.
13:02We need leaders that can maintain standing against injustice.
13:08There are too many leaders in this world
13:11that compromise their philosophical sides in life
13:16because they consider
13:20what others could do.
13:22With respect to that, we in the South,
13:25we need not compromise our values,
13:32the things that we have to fight for.
13:36We owe it to the following generations
13:39to give them a better world
13:42in which we received inheritance.
13:50Thank you, Mr. President.
13:52It is a pleasure to come to Venezuela.
13:55For me, Venezuela
13:59is as being a part of Dominica.
14:03There are no borders, no differences.
14:08Here we are among families and friends.
14:13And the same happens in the Alba family.
14:15Every time I go to Nicaragua, Bolivia, Cuba, and Honduras,
14:19San Vicente, Antigua, San Quintana Roo,
14:25we are all the same.
14:26We are a family, a united family,
14:29fighting against injustice
14:34to give hope to people,
14:36to eliminate poverty once and for all.
14:39Long live the legacy of Chavez and Fidel Castro.
14:45Thank you very much.
14:50And, Mr. President,
14:57with respect to the request of the President of Bolivia,
15:03I also want to leave early because I have a flight to take.
15:15I ask for your permission.
15:19Negado.
15:22Muy bien, gracias.
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