Caracas’ newspaper El Universal has confirmed that three more nations, including Antigua and Barbuda and St. Vincent and the Grenadines have joined the Hugo Chávez-sponsored Bolivarian Alternative for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA). Chávez underscored the “historic significance” of the new members as he opened the plenary session of the 6th Extraordinary Summit of ALBA, Efe reported. “We have established this space progressively and today we are holding this meeting on the anniversary of the battle that sealed the independence of Venezuela from the Spanish empire. We are making the adhesion of three new member States official,” he added. ALBA now has nine full members (Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Honduras, Dominica, Ecuador, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Antigua and Barbuda) and two observers, Paraguay and Grenada. Among the Caribbean leaders present at the parade that opened the summit were Cuban Vice President José Ramón Machado Ventura and the Prime Ministers of Dominica, Roosevelt Skerrit, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph Gonsalves, Antigua and Barbuda, Baldwin Spencer, and the foreign minister of Grenada, Peter David.
For a full report go to http://english.eluniversal.com/2009/06/24/en_pol_esp_alba-has-three-new-o_24A2412723.shtml
