The Cuban people, heirs to the legacy of our heroes and martyrs and faithful to the teachings of Fidel and Raúl, have given countless examples of resistance and the will to fight to confront imperial maneuvers and defend the independence and sovereignty of the homeland.
He addresses the heads of state and government, noting that in such an adverse and dangerous context, it is essential to remember and draw inspiration from the founding figure of ALBA. Today marks 21 years since the birth of this alliance at the hands of Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro and Commander Hugo Chávez—two giants who dedicated their lives to continuing the work begun by Bolívar and Martí to achieve true integration of the peoples of our America.
He quotes Chávez: "ALBA is the beginning, it is the dawn of a new era, of a new mechanism of cooperation. It is cooperation, not a market, not competition—it is complementarity, it is solidarity, it is putting the human being first, the social first, not the market."
He recalls that 20 years ago in Mar del Plata, the peoples buried the FTAA—the abomination that sought to subjugate nations to a new stage of colonization. Today history calls us to become without delay the gravediggers of the US military, political, and economic aggression looming over all of Latin America and the Caribbean.
He recalls the crucial role of Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro in demonstrating that integration is possible and urgent through innovative mechanisms like the People's Trade Agreements and social missions such as Yo Sí Puedo and Operación Milagro. Both programs, unmatched in magnitude worldwide, enabled millions to become literate and recover their vision, contributing to the spiritual and material development of entire communities.
He announces that what those missions represented yesterday, they now propose to do amid enormous challenges through new projects to consolidate the alliance and contribute to the well-being of the peoples, based on the ALBA TCP Strategic Agenda 2030 approved in Caracas in 2024. These include Agroalba, aimed at developing agricultural, livestock, and poultry sectors, and Alba Azul, proposed to develop fishing and aquaculture capabilities. Both are already in the implementation phase in Cuba.
He highlights the commissioning of the ALBA ship, which is facilitating trade and integration between the nations and has already been received in Cuban ports, bringing generous aid from sister Venezuela and ALBA to provinces and families severely affected by Hurricane Melissa. "Brother Maduro, comrades, our gratitude is infinite."
He says they have an essential and permanent reference in Fidel, who with his willpower and revolutionary example infused this alliance from its birth with an anti-imperialist spirit, fierce defense of the self-determination of peoples, and the conviction that yes we can. His vision went beyond economics to encompass a true battle of ideas—a cultural and educational project promoting unity in diversity and the formation of a Latin American and Caribbean consciousness.
Remembering and honoring the Commander-in-Chief in the forging of this new-type alliance model based on solidarity, cooperation, and complementarity is a commitment to his legacy and one of the greatest homages the ALBA family can pay to a universal statesman like Fidel. That ALBA is gathered today is a demonstration of fidelity to those principles, to its founders Fidel and Chávez, and to its inspirers Bolívar and Martí.
The imperial appetites of the enemies will never be able to undermine the unity of the peoples. They will not be able to bend with their threats and aggressions the will to fight or the faith in victory. ALBA will continue to be an essential space of solidarity and dignified resistance against destabilizing campaigns, pressure measures, and the most diverse forms of aggression. Faithful to the ideas of Bolívar, Martí, Fidel, and Chávez, forged over more than 200 years, we will continue fighting for a common objective: the unity, peace, and sovereignty of our peoples. Until victory always and thank you very much, Maduro.
Well, thank you very much, comrade president of our sister Cuba, Miguel Mario Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, and to his entire government team, all of that work team, to Raúl, and to the entire Cuban revolution. Very important matters that must have that spirit of action.
I was saying here, Rander, when we were talking off-camera, that he himself is going tomorrow to produce in Mérida. A secretary general going to produce in the field, to produce to win.
The Monroe Doctrine is a totally antiquated, imperialist doctrine that has the support of no one in Latin America and the Caribbean, and not even in the United States of America, because the ideas of the first American revolution against colonialism long ago counteracted and erased the Monroe Doctrine from the official discourse in the United States.
But always, since the famous Monroe Doctrine emerged, the doctrine that lit the light and with that light ended that demon of Monroe—of pretending to colonize us, the Americans of the South, the Americans of the Caribbean—was always Bolívar. Monroe versus Bolívar. And the giant Bolívar always victoriously with his sword, because Bolívar's doctrine is republican. If there is a doctrine that truly speaks to the people of the United States—it is the republicanism of Simón Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad, Bolívar y Palacios Blanco y Ponte de Bolívar. That is the true republican doctrine for establishing sovereign states, for respecting the self-determination of peoples, for seeking union with respect for diversity, for the emancipation of peoples.
The doctrine of Bolívar to seek peace above all. Peace, not threats of the use of force, not military threats, not pointing missiles at peoples, nor threatening them. Bolívar versus Monroe. Who will win? Bolívar has always won. Bolívar will always win. Victory forever. Bolívar. Bolívar. Bolívar versus Monroe. That is the truth. With Bolívar, all of us, and with Bolívar, always we will go with reason, with justice.
I will now proceed to give the word to the president of our sister Republic of Nicaragua, always blessed, always Christian, always free. And while President Díaz-Canel was speaking, I picked up the book I carry everywhere—this book, The Letters of Simón Bolívar. It has the title 'Free Peoples Defeat Powerful Empires.'
In 1818, there was an intense controversy with our liberator, already president of the nascent Republic of Colombia in the Orinoco. Washington sent an envoy, Agent Irvin, for a set of totally illegal matters. The United States had sent two ships full of weapons for the Spanish troops. When they entered the Orinoco, the Liberating Army seized them, and Agent Irvin came to threaten Bolívar.
Bolívar received him twice, spoke with diplomacy and firmness, without being deceived by the diplomacy of deception or the diplomacy of gunboats. Facing the diplomacy of intimidation and gunboats, Bolívar told him the following—and our great liberator fulfilled it: 'I will not permit the government and rights of Venezuela to be outraged or despised. In defending them against Spain, a great part of our population has disappeared and the rest that remains yearns to deserve the same fate. It is the same for Venezuela to fight against Spain as against the entire world, if the whole world offends her.' October 7, 1818.
Five days later, on October 12, 1818, he writes something extraordinary. 'The courage and skill, Mr. Agent Irvin, more than compensate for numbers. Unhappy are men if these moral virtues did not balance and even surpass the physical ones. The master of the most populated kingdom would soon be master of all the earth. Fortunately, it has been seen frequently that a handful of free men defeat powerful empires.' And fortunately, we saw in Nicaragua a handful of free men under Augusto César Sandino defeating the most powerful empire in its history.
Let us give the word to the heir of the legacy of Augusto César Sandino, co-president Daniel Ortega, who is there with our dear sister, co-president Rosario Murillo. Go ahead, Nicaragua.
How are you, Nicolás? We've seen you there with the people marching, always moving forward. It is true that throughout our history we have faced powerful enemies who seemed invincible, and these powerful enemies are overcome, are defeated with firmness, with courage, without stopping to walk.
Don Quixote told Sancho when the dogs barked and wanted to bite and Sancho worried, Quixote said to him: 'Don't pay attention to them, Sancho. If they bark, it is because we are walking.' They want to paralyze the peoples with threats, with barking, with biting. Sanctions are bites. Biting the peoples to terrorize them.
The contribution throughout history of the liberating epic led by Bolívar had an impact throughout our entire America and led to the independence of Central America from the Spanish Empire following the defeats inflicted on it.
At that time there were also those who wanted to annex Central America—which had declared independence—to the Mexican Empire. But that did not happen. And just a few years after Central American independence, the Central American countries decreed the abolition of slavery.
A slave owner from the United States, William Walker, invaded our territory. This was tied to the Yankee plan to seize Nicaragua, and through Nicaragua seize Central America, and through Central America seize Mexico, and go after the very same United States to retake the zone that had been lost after the defeat of the South in the Civil War—the South that defended slavery.
Walker arrived in Nicaragua with a force led by Colonel Byron Cole, carrying modern weaponry that neither the Central American armies nor the Nicaraguan army had. Taking advantage of the attitudes of one of the political factions in Nicaragua, that faction gave Walker entry, invited him to come to help defend Nicaragua, and in exchange guaranteed a transcontinental transit route for an American company—Vanderbilt's—so that Americans could travel quickly to the west coast, driven by the gold rush.
This was around 1854, 1855, 1856, when the landing of William Walker's troops took place. Walker proceeded to take over the country, seizing all power from those who had brought him in, even executing them.
In those conditions, with a Nicaraguan population that did not even reach one million people, with armies whose weapons were far inferior to what Walker brought—they did not surrender. Walker advanced so rapidly that he first appointed a president, then named himself president through a fabricated election, and was recognized by the US government of that time.
Against Walker's powerful force, the Nicaraguan forces gathered under General José Dolores Estrada, along with the indigenous people of Matagalpa, in the north of Nicaragua. They entrenched themselves at the Hacienda San Jacinto, behind stone walls, to fight the invaders. In the combat, Colonel Byron Cole fell. It was a devastating blow for them.
Meanwhile, the troops at San Jacinto ran out of ammunition and lacked repeating weapons. That is where the bravery and courage of our hero Andrés Castro emerged—when a Yankee soldier advanced on the trench, Castro had no ammunition, so he picked up a stone and knocked down the invading Yankee. They were defeated and expelled from Nicaragua. A US ship came to collect them, and they were received as heroes back in the United States.
That was the first trial by fire of Nicaragua against the aggressions of expansionist imperialism. Then came a second battle when a liberal government, led by General José Santos Zelaya, began implementing deep reforms that the Yankee government did not approve and condemned.
In the end, the US government, through its chancellor, sent a note to President Zelaya telling him he had to leave because US troops were already heading for Nicaragua and if he didn't leave they would capture him. Zelaya did not have the backbone to stand and resist. Another liberal leader, General Benjamin Zeledón, took command.
Zeledón organized a detachment that began fighting the Yankee troops landing in Corinto and heading to Coyotepe, where he was entrenched. That was a heroic battle. When they could not make Zeledón surrender—he was inflicting casualties—they proposed he surrender and his life would be spared. Zeledón said, 'I do not surrender.' And he wrote a letter to his wife and children, telling them he was going to give his life because he could not surrender to invaders.
It was on October 4, 1912. General Benjamin Zeledón, national hero, staunch anti-imperialist, gave his life for the sovereignty of Nicaragua. And the Yankees paraded his corpse everywhere to spread fear among the population.
That is when a young man, Sandino—who was just a young man—saw the humiliation they were inflicting on Nicaragua, on General Zeledón, and he became enraged. He decided to confront the invaders and waged a long battle of many years. The Yankees used aviation to try to defeat him, but every day they suffered more casualties than Sandino's army of peasants fighting in the mountains of Nicaragua. In the end, the Yankees had no choice but to withdraw—they were defeated by General Sandino.
After the defeat, there were peace agreements with President Sacasa. But Somoza, whom the Yankees had left in charge of the army in Nicaragua, set an ambush. After a dinner to which Sandino was invited, accompanied by his father and members of his general staff, as they left and walked along the avenue beside the barracks, Somoza's guard detained them. The president's daughter, who had been at the dinner, protested, but they executed all of them. They thought Nicaragua would now be subdued to the Yankee empire.
But when there is consciousness, when there is courage, when there is love of country, the people keep waiting for the moment to finish off the traitors. After Sandino, fighters from Sandino's army continued fighting in several guerrilla incursions. They were small and in difficult conditions, but there was the courage to fight even in disadvantageous circumstances.
In the end, young heirs of Sandino's thought organized the Sandinista National Liberation Front. The Front had to wage a long battle with thousands dead, facing the National Guard armed and trained by the Americans. And finally, under the inspiration of the triumph of the Cuban revolution—which gave more strength and morale to the Nicaraguans—the Nicaraguan revolution triumphed in 1979, twenty years after Cuba's triumph in 1959, just when it was being said that revolutions in Latin America and the Caribbean had come to an end.
Since then we have had a long journey, always facing conspiracies and attempts to destroy the revolutionary process. We have a people, a youth engaged in all activities related to the well-being of the people, fighting poverty, and developing projects, because our main objective remains peace. We are defenders of peace. Sandino fought for peace, and we want peace.
I would say there has been a fundamental axis that has contributed to strengthening the resistance and struggle of the Latin American peoples—the axis created by our elder brother, Commander Fidel Castro, and our brother Commander Hugo Rafael Chávez. They, the father and Hugo the son, managed to make a leap in the defense of the rights and identity of the peoples of our America. And the first great step was the creation of ALBA.
And despite all the setbacks, despite all the threats, despite all the sanctions, ALBA is still alive. ALBA is still walking. And as Don Quixote told Sancho: don't worry, the dogs bark because we are walking, and the more they see us walk, the more firmness and strength they see in us, the more they will bark, the more they will bite.
They are militarily surrounding the region, using the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela as a starting point, with the pretext of drug trafficking. It has been discovered—what they want is the oil of the Venezuelan people. And what have they done? Stolen an oil tanker. A robbery. They are thieves. Thieves with labels—because they feel entitled to steal, to steal the ship, to steal the oil on the ship. We must logically condemn those aggressions, which are aggressions aimed at all CELAC countries.
There may be some governments that think that because they are "friends" of the US government, things will go well. American rulers, the American empire, the imperialists of the earth—they have no friends. No friends. What they did in Honduras, deciding who had to be the president. Poor president, because we don't know how it will go for him. They abhor the Honduran people, they abhor the Central American peoples, they hate them because of migration. And if the president who is finally elected doesn't comply, then he will no longer be a friend—he will be an enemy.
These are truly extraordinary moments in the struggle for world peace. Because we see the European Union beating the drums of war to insert itself, as it already has, in favor of the Nazis of Ukraine, against the Russian Federation. That is a war, a struggle that the Russian people are fighting against the Nazis on land where millions of Russians live and have been discriminated against and murdered.
And we see the European Union beating the drums of war, while the Pope calls for peace. The peoples want peace. We are sure the people of Ukraine wants peace. Likewise, we are sure the people of Israel wants peace, but there is a governing party of a fascist bent. After the Nazis perpetrated their atrocities against the people of Israel, now this ruling party inflicts atrocities on the Palestinian people—brother peoples—trying to annihilate them, to disappear them, denying the Palestinian people the rights they have to develop.
The destruction is terrible—they have demolished cities and homes, thousands of children murdered. And in the United States, the persecution against migrants is an expression of the racism that exists among American rulers. I am sure that the majority of the American people do not agree with the persecution of immigrants, because those immigrants work for the American people. They are waging war on migrants, expelling them, applying a racist policy that cannot lead anywhere good. The American people are suffering the impact of economic measures that...
The U.S. government has taken action against social programs, health programs, and programs that are essential to the American people. There is rejection of all the measures being taken by the U.S. government, and threatening — it keeps threatening Mexico, threatening Colombia, threatening to go against Colombia, to go against Mexico, to send in its troops. It says this calmly.
And the peoples will react. Yes. The American people will react, and peace will have to be established in the world. And to the people, the people of Bolívar, of Chávez, of Nicolás, the Bolivarian people who have been subjected to an attempt at strangulation — they are a people who have among their citizens men, women, young people, workers, peasants — all of them are Bolívar, all of them are Chávez, all of them have that strength.
And they are not fleeing because they are being threatened with military blockades and threats of a land invasion. From here, no one left fleeing before those threats. Rather, the people are happy, content, firm, ready to face whatever these gentlemen may do, with the conviction that they will defeat them.
And the defeat is already assured, because that is a people that is at peace. They have not managed to provoke the people's uprising against the government. On the contrary, there is total unity of the people with the government authorities and with President Nicolás and the Bolivarian army. There is unity, there is joy — they are not terrified because the Yankee ships are right there. They are not terrified.
And a people who has that morale, who has that strength, will always triumph. And you all are already seeing it, dear brothers, and you are an example of inspiration for the Latin American and Caribbean peoples and for the peoples of the world.
We fully support the proposal made by President Nicolás Maduro about how to organize, how to work with greater efficiency and with clear points to develop. This will logically give us greater strength in all aspects because we will unite even more than we already have in mobilizing all these factors that President Nicolás Maduro was talking about.
And our solidarity as always with the heroic people of Martí, of Fidel, of Raúl, and of our brother President Miguel Díaz-Canel. Díaz-Canel was here in Nicaragua when we faced the Contra, and he was alongside us in Jinotega, in the combat zone, in the war zone.
We greet the Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Dominica, Roosevelt Skerrit; the Prime Minister of Saint Lucia, Philip J. Pierre; the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Export Development of Antigua and Barbuda, Chet Greene.
We greet the Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Trade, Industry and Commerce, Consumer Affairs, Economic Development and Investment of the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis, Denzil Douglas; the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Export Development of Grenada, Joseph Andall; the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade, Foreign Investment and Diaspora Affairs of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Keisal Peters.
To all of them, brothers, our greetings to their people and our commitment to continue getting closer to strengthen our relations in all fields.
And we know that we all face greater or lesser difficulties, but we all face difficulties. And the path to overcome those difficulties was laid out — it was laid out by Chávez, it is ALBA. And united, we are already winning.
The mere fact that we are gathered on this day, that we have this exchange, is a show of firmness, of courage, of loyalty to our peoples. With Fidel, and also with Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías. Forward, brother. Fraternal hugs from the Nicaraguan people.
Well, we thank you for all the historical reflection, the guidance, and the lessons that this extraordinary path gives us. It is a unique story. Everything that is told is not science fiction, it is not Superman — it is our heroes. Sandino there. Andrés Castro like David against Goliath.
In the end, we carry the force of David against the Goliath of today, of yesterday, and of tomorrow. We carry the sling of David, the sling of peoples blessed by God. Because David told Goliath: 'You may have that armor, you may have the biggest sword ever seen. You may be two meters tall, and I'm here small and tiny, but you don't have what I have,' he told him.
And Goliath said, 'And what do you have?' 'I have the power and the blessings of God, and the power and blessings of my people.' And win, win, win. Goliath is finished. We are David in the 21st century, and we go forward with Sandino, victorious. Sandino forever. They thought they had executed him and killed him, but Sandino was sown in the blood, in the earth, and in the heart of that people.
And then that beautiful process of July 19, 1979 was resurrected. So, well, our greeting always — Bolívar speaking of peace. Our objective, our life, our strength, our struggle. And Bolívar, on June 23, 1820, a year and a day before the Battle of Carabobo, said a phrase that is a mantra for us, a mantra. I quote: Bolívar said, 'Peace shall be my port, my glory, my reward, my hope, my happiness, and how precious it is in the world. Peace, the peace that triumphs every day, and the peace that we will build with solid and firm foundations in the effort we are making.'
I would like, before giving the floor to the Caribbean leader, Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Dominica, Roosevelt Skerrit, to have communicated to the delegations of our nine countries a proposal that we have been working on, in the spirit of the Miracle Mission — Compañero President Díaz-Canel and the people of Cuba, in the spirit of the Miracle Mission — to create a special ALBA mission for energy and electricity with an international character. A special mission to provide extraordinary and special support to the people of Cuba in their fight against the blockade and the effects on all energy and electricity issues. It would be an international energy and electricity mission for special support to the people of Cuba. It is submitted for consideration, and well, we will now give news about this resolution. And it gives me great pleasure to send an embrace from here on behalf of the entire people of Venezuela to Roosevelt Skerrit, leader and Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Dominica. Go ahead, Roosevelt.
Thank you very much. It is a pleasure to see you all and to participate in this with much love for all of Dominica.
I would like to recognize my dear brother and friend, comrade President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and President of this summit today, my dear brother President of the Republic of Cuba, and of course our dear brother President of Nicaragua. I remember listening to the President of Nicaragua when I was in primary school, and to me he seems like someone who still has 50 years. I still see him very strong and with tremendous energy, with tremendous wisdom.
I also want to greet my dear brother, the Prime Minister of Saint Lucia, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, and all the ambassadors present. Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends, good afternoon.
I want to thank the President of Venezuela for convening this meeting. I believe this meeting is taking place at a very opportune moment. It is a moment when the Caribbean region is facing unprecedented challenges — challenges to our peace, our security, our economic and social well-being, and to the cohesion of Latin America and the Caribbean.
And also a principle we have maintained for so many years, which is that the Caribbean is a zone of peace. And we want to reiterate that position in a very firm manner when we express our complete solidarity with the government and people of Venezuela as they face this unprecedented threat.
All of us present at this meeting have a history of fighting against drug trafficking and criminal activities in our countries, and we have of course protected our territorial waters and our borders. This is a fact that cannot be denied.
We have all embraced the opportunities to work together, whether with the United States or with any other country, to fight against these criminal activities within our region. This, of course, is an issue that destabilizes our region, our governments, because if we do not control it, it can create tremendous chaos in our countries and among our peoples.
Therefore, all of us within ALBA and within the Latin American and Caribbean region are against these criminal activities, and of course we want to fight against the arms, against these criminal activities and drug trafficking in our region. I also believe, Mr. President, that this is a moment when we should be even more united than we have been.
It is a moment when we must demonstrate our solidarity with one another. This is a test that history is presenting to us, and it will be very interesting to see how history records our own commitment to solidarity, our own recognition of our friendship. And the question is whether as a people we will disappoint our ancestors, those who fought for our independence, those who gave their lives for independence, those who fought for our sovereignty, and those who fought and perished for our integrity and dignity.
This is not the time for fear. I believe it is the time when we must strengthen our bonds of cooperation, solidarity, and complementarity.
As always, Dominica supports the principles against the blockade of Cuba, and anywhere in the world, in any forum, we will demand that the blockade of Cuba be ended. This has, of course, no objective beyond creating poverty and economic and social problems for our peoples. We are very firm in this position.
Cuba is a country that supports terrorism — that is a barefaced lie. Cuba is known for supporting other countries, for being solidarity with other countries regardless of their economic and social problems. I believe that a prosperous Cuba, a Cuba that can demonstrate its real capabilities and potential, will be a benefit for the entire Latin American and Caribbean region, and not only for us, but for the whole world.
And this is a principle for us, something we do not negotiate. We do not negotiate on these principles. Of course, we also remain in solidarity with the people and government of Venezuela. In this case, we believe that the relationship between us is not governed by what occurs at the global level. It is about respecting the sovereignty of the people of Venezuela, respecting their territorial integrity.
It is about calling for peace and ensuring that the lives of the Venezuelan people are respected and that they are recognized as a sovereign people. Of course, we maintain our solidarity with the people of Venezuela and their government.
So the message today is very simple. This moment requires that all of us remain united, that we support one another. At this moment we have to express our solidarity with dignity, with a sense of pride, and from our principles. We are not here to declare war on anyone. It is not about that. That is not who we are. That is not what we have been taught. And if we look at the lessons of Fidel Castro, a leader for his country who suffered many assassination attempts, there were so many efforts to end the sovereignty of his country, and Fidel always taught us that we must choose the path of peace and not the path of war.
Cuba has always carried dignity to other peoples, carried freedom to other peoples, carried peace to regions destroyed by war and ethnic cleansing. Therefore, we must follow the instructions of our ancestors, of our liberators.
In the case of Hugo Chávez, it is exactly the same. Hugo Chávez always spoke of carrying dignity to the peoples, of ensuring the sovereignty of nations, mutual respect, and working together to bring joint solutions to challenges we all have.
And if we look at all the neighbors we have in Latin America, all the efforts that have been made to maintain peace, to share the resources we have with the rest of the region, so that we can grow together and build greater prosperity for our citizens.
So I would like to congratulate the President of Venezuela for following the guidance, of course, of the previous president, Commander Hugo Chávez, and for choosing the path of peace, the path of dialogue, the path of commitment to diplomacy at all levels. And I want to congratulate your leadership.
I consider that you, President Maduro, impress me as a leader in the way you have been able to guide your country during such difficult times. And we see the strength in your tenacity, in your commitment to this struggle, and in your commitment to the ideals of Bolívar, of Hugo Chávez, and of Fidel Castro. So you can be sure that you are not alone in these moments.
We will continue participating at all levels to ensure that respect for sovereignty is maintained, that respect for international law is maintained, and that countries can self-determine, can choose the government they decide, and can defend their country in the way their citizens decide. And that is what we have been doing in our Latin American and Caribbean region. And we reiterate the need for this region to continue being a zone of peace where every citizen, every government, every country can govern their own lives under respect for international law and respect for self-determination.
So this message will not be very long. I simply wanted to tell you and all our friends throughout Latin America and the Caribbean that Dominica will always respect the principles. We are not going to stand on top of a mountain and shout this to the whole Caribbean, but of course we are not going to negotiate, we are not going to compromise our principles.
Cuba, Venezuela, and all our friends in Latin America and the Caribbean have all been very kind to us, have been extraordinary neighbors, and we have no reason for this to change, for these circumstances to change. We want rather to strengthen these relationships, strengthen our bonds of solidarity and complementarity, and we want to continue working together to continue fighting against social injustice, against the indignity of our citizens, so that each one of them can have a just life, free from attacks on any other country or their communities.
Money can be spent in much better ways than war. There are many challenges. We still have many children going to sleep hungry. There are many families who wake up not knowing how they will feed their children. However, there are still some who think war is the path to solve problems, but history has taught us that war solves nothing — what it does is bring more chaos and destruction in the long term to the peoples.
Therefore, I hope we remember that history and that we cease promoting war once and for all. Thank you very much, President, for your invitation. I hope to see you soon in Caracas, but you should know that you have friends and your friends will be in solidarity with you and with the people of Venezuela, with the free and dignified people of Venezuela, who protect their territory to ensure that future generations enjoy the freedom that so many fought for and that they enjoy today. Thank you very much.
Well, thank you very much to Roosevelt Skerrit, Caribbean leader, Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Dominica, who speaks better Spanish every time. I was impressed by Roosevelt's Spanish. He has been learning for years, and I am also learning English well, you hear, but I speak English like Tarzan.
And I tell you, in your speech — but now I've combined a new song: Not war, be happy. Not, be happy. No to war. Be happy. And let others be happy.
Well, congratulations to all. Thanks for so much permanent solidarity in the Caribbean. The Caribbean is a great region for peace, for harmony, coexistence, integration, and to be ever better.
We have Roosevelt's projects, the ALBA Azul project, to continue uniting capacities for fishing. Fishing, well, it has been growing in all our countries, fishing for export to other regions as well. ALBA Agro also for producing food, right? Everything related to the tourism plans of air interconnection that are going quite well and can improve even more.
So we are advancing in all those good directions with a permanent offensive for the united and integral development of our countries and our peoples. Step by step, little by little, we go far. And now we will give the floor to this young, energetic and dynamic Caribbean leader Philip Pierre from Saint Lucia, recently elected with an overwhelming victory. Congratulations, Philip. Go ahead.
