The Bolivarian Alternative for Latin America and the Caribbean (ALBA is the Spanish acronym) is a different integration proposal that stresses the struggle against poverty and social inequality by acting in the best interests of the Latin American peoples.

As Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Frias thought it up –and it was revealed to the world in 2001- ALBA is an integrating tool presented to the Latin American and Caribbean nations as an antidote to the U.S.-supported Free Trade Area for the Americas (ALCA).

ALBA stands for a way to sign integration agreements in a bid to reach endogenous development at both a national and regional level, good enough to weed out poverty, do away with social disparities and secure better life quality for the people. As a matter of fact, ALBA represents a model that goes in sync with the rising of consciousness and the beginning of a new political, economic and social leadership in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The birth and piecemeal strengthening of the Bolivarian revolution in Venezuela has given that South American nation the possibility of teaming up with Cuba and showing the world how much the two countries can achieve together. In this context, the electoral win of President Evo Morales has now made Bolivia jump on the ALBA bandwagon as well.

But ALBA has its antecedents in a number of programs, like the foundation of the Latin American School of Medicine and the International School of Sports and Physical Education, currently attended by thousands students whose countries don’t need to pay a single penny for their scholarships.

In 2005, Cuba and Venezuela made the decision of forming 100,000 physicians in the course of ten years as part of a joint social project called Social Hope.

Operation Miracle, for its part, is a program that has given free eye operations to thousands of people from different countries by Cuban ophthalmologists. As we speak, some 70,000 Cuban doctors are working in Venezuela, Bolivia and other nations that need that kind of assistance.

A couple of years ago in Havana, Presidents Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez set in motion the first concrete experience out of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas by scrapping all tariffs or any other kind of tax barrier on imports from the two countries. In the same breath, the two nations agreed to levy no taxes on profits reaped out of all investments made by their states, joint ventures or private sectors during the capital recovery period.

Preferential treatments to ships from either Cuba or Venezuela, as well as the easing of regulations for airborne passenger and cargo transportation, the use of airport services and the establishment of a fair price policy on oil and its byproducts are also part of the bilateral agreements.

Cuba lifted all restrictions on potential State-run investments from Venezuela on the island nation and now allows Venezuelan exports to be paid with products made in Cuba. At the same time, it extended the services of 20,000 physicians and paramedics in Venezuela.

Caracas is now bankrolling a number of productive and infrastructure projects in Cuba for such key sectors as power generation, road construction and seaport development, as well as the signing of special agreements in the field of telecommunications.

Other aspects include the stepping up of trade exchanges, the creation of new jobs in Venezuela to put products and items made by Venezuelan companies in the Cuban market, Cuba’s help in building and equipping several Comprehensive Diagnosis Centers and rehab wards in Venezuela, and the implementation of the I Can literacy program.

This kind of cooperation between these two Latin American nations has become the steppingstone for a number of other bilateral efforts, like the creation of PETROCARIBE, an oil distribution system with preferential price tags that benefits Eastern Caribbean States.