Declaration of the XX ALBA-TCP Summit

Source: Internationalist 360

Final Declaration of the XX ALBA-TCP Summit Highlights Efforts Towards Real Latin American and Caribbean Integration

We, the Heads of State and Government and the heads of delegations of the countries of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America-People’s Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP), gathered in Havana, Cuba, on December 14, 2021, to commemorate the XVII anniversary of the Alliance. By signing this Declaration, we renew our commitment to strengthen this mechanism of political coordination, based on the principles of solidarity, social justice, cooperation and economic complementarity, fruit of the political will of its founders, Commanders Fidel Castro Ruz and Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías.

We ratify that the cardinal principle that must guide ALBA-TCP is the broadest solidarity among the peoples of our America, based on the thinking of Bolivar, Marti, San Martin, Sucre, O’Higgins, Petión, Morazán, Sandino, Bishop, Garvey, Tupac Katari, Bartolina Sisa, Chatoyer and other heroes of Latin American and Caribbean independence, according to the joint declaration of Commanders Chávez and Fidel on December 14, 2004.

We ratify our commitment to a genuine Latin American and Caribbean integration, which will allow us to face together the pretensions of imperialist domination and hegemony and the growing threats to regional peace and stability.

We advocate for a transparent, democratic, fair and equitable international order, based on multilateralism, observance of the purposes and principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations and International Law; that guarantees international peace and security and respect for the right of peoples to self-determination, territorial integrity, peaceful settlement of disputes, non-interference in internal affairs and sovereignty of States.

We recognize the laudable work of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines as a non-permanent member of the Security Council during the last two years, raising the voice of the peoples of the Caribbean and representing the struggle for just causes within this important organ of the United Nations.

We reaffirm the full validity of the postulates of the “Proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace”, signed by the Heads of State and Government of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), at its II Summit held in Havana, in January 2014.

We underscore the need to continue strengthening CELAC as a genuine mechanism for political coordination, cooperation and regional dialogue based on the principle of unity in diversity, in order to face the common challenges we face. We ratify the results of the VI Summit of the Community, held in Mexico City on September 18, 2021, while commending the work of the Mexican pro tempore presidency to revitalize CELAC and reiterate our commitment to support its management.

Read full Declaration here

Cuba and China Sign Cooperation Plan for Joint Promotion of Belt & Road Initiative

Source: Kawsachun News

December 25 2021

Cuba-China bilateral economic relations have hit an important milestone with the signing of a Cooperation Plan for the joint promotion of the Silk and Road Initiative. The document was signed on Friday, between the governments of Cuba and China, by Cuban Deputy Prime Minister, Ricardo Cabrisas, and President of National Development and Reform Commission, He Lifeng.

This Plan will allow for the effective implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding, signed by President Díaz-Canel during a visit to China in November 2018, which formalized the insertion of Cuba to this important Initiative. That MoU was prepared in correspondence with Cuba’s short, medium and long-term economic and social development objectives, where China participates as a strategic partner, and based on the experiences acquired by China in the implementation of projects and actions in the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative.

Cuban Deputy Prime Minister, Ricardo Cabrisas signs the Cooperation Plan for the joint promotion of the Silk and Road Initiative. December 24, 2021.

The Plan promotes bilateral cooperation in priority sectors for Cuba, such as infrastructure development, education, culture, health and biotechnology, communications, science and technology and tourism, among other areas. Projects and actions to be executed jointly will be of mutual benefit, in order to further strengthen and diversify the ties between Cuba and China, as well as with third countries that are members of this Initiative.

The Belt and Road megaproject has been promoted by the Chinese Government since 2013 aimed mainly at the creation of an extensive network of infrastructure that will contribute to the connectivity between its members, promote cultural exchange and strengthen international cooperation.

This week, Cuba and China held the XII Meeting of the Joint Commission for Cooperation in Science and Technology. On Thursday, President Miguel Diaz-Canel visited sites of investments in which Chinese companies are participating. “We will continue to support the business community of China, a nation to which we are united by deep and historical ties. In this Thursday’s tour of several joint investments, we verified the seriousness and rigor with which they work,” stated the Cuban President.

Meanwhile, Nicaragua and China have wasted no time in restoring relations following the Sandinista government’s major announcement to drop Taiwan and recognize only Beijing.

Venezuelan Campesinos Receive Land Titles, Celebrate Historic Santa Inés Battle

Source:  venezuelanalysis.com

December 11 2021

The Venezuelan government handed 69 land titles comprising 1,817 hectares to campesinos in Santa Inés, Barinas state.

Under the slogan “Free land, men and women!” campesinos received the land titles during a large popular assembly on Friday in the remote area. The event marked the 162 anniversary of the emblematic Battle of Santa Inés and 20 years since the approval of Hugo Chávez’ Land Law.

Grassroots movements especially celebrated a Supreme Court ruling in favor of 40 campesino families in the 4800 hectare Los Tramojos land stead in Guárico state after a protracted legal battle.

The Battle of Santa Inés took place on December 10, 1859, during Venezuela’s Federal War (1859-1863). Venezuelan hero Ezequiel Zamora and his mostly peasant army defeated the conservative government’s troops under the banner of “Free Men and Liberated Land.” While the XIX century countryside rebellion was frustrated, the Hugo Chávez government reclaimed the fight under the Bolivarian Revolution in 1999.

A number of government officials praised the Santa Inés people for upholding food production and promised more support. “We have set up a permanent technical table with the campesino sector to reinvigorate the agro-productive activities in the area,” announced Agriculture Minister Wilmar Castro Soteldo.

The president of the National Land Institute (INTI), David Hernández, likewise pledged to continue working with rural movements. “The best way to honor the Land Law is together with the people. In Santa Inés, we listen and advance alongside the campesino movement, more committed than ever to defend national production,” he wrote on Twitter.

Hernández added that the Nicolás Maduro government would continue democratizing the land, a process that began 20 years ago when former president Chávez launched the Land Law. The historic 2001 legislation laid conditions for campesinos to rescue over 60 percent of large idle estates and receive land titles, with small and midsize producers currently accounting for an estimated 70 percent of food production. The land redistribution process slowed down in recent years, with campesino organizations staging several high profile demonstrations to oppose policies favoring landowning interests.

Former Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza also attended the Santa Inés commemorative event, where he delivered the land titles and visited different areas. On Monday, the ruling United Socialist Party (PSUV) announced that the high-profile official would be the candidate for the re-run of the Barinas governor election on January 9, 2022.

“It is a privilege to hear criticism, to be interpellated and feel the love of these giants of resistance and dignity. With the people’s wisdom, we will find definitive solutions [to rural issues],” Arreaza wrote on social media.

Additionally, Venezuela’s Attorney General Tarek William Saab opened an agrarian prosecutor’s office to address campesino struggles and demands. The announcement comes after rural populations have staged several rallies in recent months to denounce a “landowner offensive.” The Campesino Struggle Platform celebrated the decision, stating it is a step towards “justice in the countryside.”

Over 350 campesinos have been killed over the past 20 years, reportedly by hired assassins sent by powerful landowners. Campesino organizations have pointed the finger at the Cattle Ranchers Federation (FEDENAGA), a powerful guild pushing to reform the 2001 Land Law. However, the Maduro administration has promised to leave the legislation untouched.

In recent months, the country’s rural sector has emphasized that the majority of the targeted killings have gone unpunished, accusing local judicial authorities of working in complicity with powerful landowners to criminalize campesinos.

Venezuela’s rural communities have also been affected by fuel shortages that severely worsened in 2020 due to US sanctions. Campesino producers need diesel to power tractors and transport crops. The scarcity has led to fuel price hikes and reduced agricultural output.

Edited and with additional reporting by Ricardo Vaz from Caracas

Venezuela Pushes for Stronger ALBA Economy at XX Summit

High-level delegations from the ten ALBA nations participate in the organization’s XX Summit in Cuba on Tuesday. (@RadioRelojCuba / Twitter)

Source: (venezuelanalysis.com)

December 12, 2021  –

The Venezuelan government has called on the Bolivarian Alternative for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA-TCP) to draw up “commercial, financial and monetary plans” to strengthen post-pandemic economic development.

The proposal came during ALBA’s XX Summit in Havana, Cuba on Tuesday. The gathering likewise commemorated seventeen years since Hugo Chávez and Fidel Castro founded the multilateral organization in 2004. It followed the XIX Summit held earlier this year in Caracas.

The latest summit was attended by the presidents of Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba and Bolivia, respectively, as well as by high-level delegations from ALBA members Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Granada, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Saint Lucia, which returned to the body this year after a left victory in its July elections. Delegations from non-members Haiti, Syria and Surinam were present as well.

The economy was top on the meeting’s agenda, with a number of representatives focusing on both the reactivation of their productive apparatus and debt relief after the Covid-19 pandemic.

“I request that we make a new and stronger effort to articulate comprehensive plans for economic, commercial, financial, and monetary development between ALBA nations,” said Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro during the encounter. “We need to generate wealth in order to be able to distribute it,” he continued, encouraging “new investment to produce food, oil, gas, everything our peoples need.”

Equally, Bolivia’s president and economist Luis Arce, who brought 20 tons of humanitarian assistance to Havana, proposed creating two additional “gran-national” enterprises to produce food and medicine. Gran-national enterprises are mixed firms which operate under ALBA control across various countries. They are based on core values of solidarity and fair distribution instead of profit-making.

“It is time to push together, to sum up our forces. It is time to show solidarity, and Bolivia proposes and accepts the responsibility for drawing up a strategic plan to develop our economies,” Arce told those present, while also calling for the jumpstarting of ALBA financial arms such as the ALBA Bank and Sucre currency.

The summit’s final statement echoed the calls, as well as establishing “a more complete mechanism to alleviate foreign debt for developing countries, as well as the writing-off or refinancing of debt (and) the democratic transformation of international financial organizations.”

Similarly, the summit pledged to reactivate the ALBA Economic Zone project, as well as regional fisheries, agriculture and PetroCaribe projects.

PetroCaribe distributed crude and fuel to Caribbean nations under long-term and low-interest payment agreements. The project was halted in 2018 as US sanctions severely hit Venezuela’s struggling oil sector. On Tuesday, the Venezuelan president stated that the flagship initiative will “return stronger-than-ever sooner rather than later.” Maduro had previously promised the project would be relaunched in the first half of 2020.

Counter-Intervention Observatory established

The ALBA Summit went on to take aim at US intervention in the region, blasting the “genocidal” blockade against Cuba and the “massive, flagrant and systematic violation of human rights” through unilateral coercive measures against a number of the alliance’s members.

“Not even a thousand sanctions will defeat the dignity of the Venezuelan, Nicaraguan and Cuban people,” said Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel at the meeting.

From Cuba, ALBA Executive Secretary Sacha Llorenti unveiled a Counter-Intervention Observatory which will reportedly look to “periodically analyze the role of non-governmental organizations and funding in destabilizing efforts,” as well as study how the “neoliberal coercive measures” are being levied against member nations.

The observatory comes as a response to Washington’s Summit for Democracy last week, which unveiled over US $424 million of funding for the region. According to US President Joe Biden, the resources will be channeled into media projects, “defending free and fair elections and political processes,” fighting corruption, “bolstering democratic reformers” and “advancing technology for democracy.” Most ALBA nations were not invited to Washington’s virtual gathering, and Managua, Havana, La Paz and Caracas have all accused Washington of funding destabilization efforts in their countries of late.

ALBA fights the Covid-19 pandemic

The fight against the coronavirus pandemic was also high on the agenda in Havana, with member nations congratulating the island on developing its three vaccines, as well as recognizing the efforts of the ALBA Bank in creating a vaccine bank and Venezuela’s CONVIASA airline for setting up air-bridges between member states. Likewise, the summit saluted the region’s healthcare workers for their frontline work.

For his part, recently re-elected Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega used the opportunity to blast “US imperialism,” claiming that in addition to the Covid-19 pandemic, “savage capitalism and imperialism is the worst pandemic the world has suffered.”

Other issues discussed included backing the Caribbean’s historic claims to compensation for the “genocide” and “horrors” of the slave trade; pushing for “more ambitious” commitments on climate change after a “disappointing” COP26 Summit in Glasgow; and congratulating recent leftwing electoral victories in Bolivia, Nicaragua, Saint Lucia, Venezuela and Honduras.

Nicaragua Could Triple Its Exports to China in the Medium Term

Source: TeleSUR

The new ties with China enable the Central American nation new prospects for trade and foreign direct investment. | Photo: Twitter/@KawsachunNews

Nicaragua could triple its exportable volume of traditional products to China in the next ten years if a large-scale investment project is established, said the president of the Nicaraguan Council of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (Conimipyme), Leonardo Torres.

“We have enough land, we have no land limit and we have no water limit, which is key for productivity. What Nicaragua needs are irrigation systems to be able to increase its productive cycle. Nicaragua bases its productive cycle in winter and summer, but we do not have massive irrigation systems and China has those massive irrigation systems, which means a great opportunity for Nicaragua,” Torres explained.

After his arrival from the People’s Republic of China on Sunday December 12, the Minister of Finance and Public Credit, Ivan Acosta, said that the restoration of relations between the governments of Beijing and Managua opens “space for greater investment” and an expansion of the market for Nicaraguan exports, estimated at more than 3.5 billion dollars in 2021.

RELATED: China and Nicaragua Reestablish Diplomatic Relations

“The aspiration is to double that amount in the next 10 years and this is only possible with a large market that demands our product and we can establish all the necessary mechanisms to attract more investments, higher quality investments that energize our country’s exports to the world and to the People’s Republic of China,” Acosta said.

The opportunity for the economic development of the Central American nation could reach US$20 billion in the next decade if one considers Chinese investment in Nicaragua with planting and harvesting technology and communication technology in the existing free trade zone, where annual exports are around US$3 billion.

“Nicaragua could easily become an assembler of communication technology, cell phones, home appliances, we can perfectly assemble televisions, sound equipment and Chinese investment could come to settle in technological free trade zones, there is a great opportunity for us,” he said.

The expectations with the new context of international trade development relations of Nicaragua “excite” the businessmen of this country, because according to the head of Conimipyme, it would allow them a sustained growth of up to 9% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

“Here you have another potential for these zones, say $2 billion more in free trade zones tripled for the next 10 years, we would be talking about an exportable development with a jump of the Gross Domestic Product of Nicaragua to 8 to 9% and we would no longer be talking about 4%, for that you have to have the infrastructure of Nicaragua to work on this,” detailed Torres.

The businessman considered that the Government of Nicaragua should rethink the National Plan for the Fight against Poverty and Human Development 2022-2027 to redirect the approaches and development goals for the next five years.

The Nicaraguan government on December 9 recognized China as a single territory and broke off relations with Taiwan, which had been in place since 1990.

The new ties with China enable the Central American nation new prospects for trade and foreign direct investment advanced in conservations between the Government of Nicaragua, the China International Development Cooperation Agency and China Council for the Promotion of International Trade and Investment.

Chile: The double standard in human rights and the ‘nice’ left

Source: aporrea.org

December 21 2021

Amid the joy of many Chileans who celebrate Boric’s victory against the neo-fascist Kast, and as a memorable response to some who, exaggerating a lot about the president-elect, come to compare him with Salvador Allende, Pablo Neruda or with Other icons of the world left, throughout yesterday, some of the statements made by deputy Gabriel Boric circulated on the networks some time ago.

There was also a response written by Allende’s grandson, “Pablo Sepúlveda Allende”:

Pablo Sepúlveda Allende

Dr. Pablo Allende, grandson of former President of Chile Salvador Allende

Deputy, I dare to answer you because I see the danger that it means that important leaders like you, young referents of that “new left” that has emerged in the Frente Amplio, make simplistic, absurd and misinformed comparisons on issues as delicate as human rights .

It is very biased and rude that you equate – without the slightest argument – the supposed “weakening of the basic conditions of democracy in Venezuela”, the “permanent restriction of freedoms in Cuba” and “the repression of the Ortega government in Nicaragua” with the proven atrocities of the military dictatorship in Chile, the evident criminal interventionism of the United States around the world and the terrorism of the State of Israel against the People of Palestine.

The fact that you write such nonsense does not “mean to become a pseudo CIA agent” but it does denote an important irresponsibility and political immaturity that can transform you into a useful element for the right, or worse, end up being that “left” than the right craving; a dumb, ambiguous left, a harmless left that prefers to appear “politically correct” because of opportunism, that left that is “neither chicha nor lemonade”, that one that does not want to look bad with anyone.

Such a left is confusing, because it does not dare to point out and courageously confront the true enemies of the peoples. There is the danger of issuing politically immature opinions. Have you ever wondered why Venezuela is being so vilified and attacked in the media? Why is it news every day in practically every country in the Western world where the mass media dominate? Why is it attacked from all sides and in a gang? Why do those big newscasts keep quiet about the continuous massacres in Colombia and Mexico? Why don’t those who tear their clothes worrying about a Venezuelan deputy, who confessed to participating in an assassination attempt, have the courage to demand that Israel stop the genocide against the Palestinian people?

The world upside down. That is the world of politics without heart and without courage. Margarita Labarca Goddard has already argued clearly and forcefully why you are wrong in your judgments towards Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua. I will only add that Venezuela has a much healthier and more transparent democracy than the one in Chile, whenever you want I can argue it to you and we can debate it, if you are interested.

It is also easy to argue why the “permanent restriction of liberties in Cuba” is a fallacy. Not to mention that the word “freedom” is so cluttered that by now its true meaning is ambiguous, and a sensible definition requires even a philosophical debate. Or tell me, what is freedom?

I name these two countries because I know them quite well. I lived in Cuba for 9 years and in Venezuela I have been living for another 9 years. I do not know Nicaragua first-hand, but I invite you to ask yourself what the reaction of a right-wing government would have been to the action of paid and heavily armed criminal gangs, who come to take over sectors of the most important cities in the country; and where, in addition, said mercenary gangs are installed to commit abominable acts such as kidnapping, torturing, maiming, raping and even burning alive, dozens of human beings, for the mere fact of being militants of a cause -in this case, Sandinista militants- , where the persecution reached the point of murdering entire families in their own homes.

The legitimately elected government in Nicaragua, even having the resources, the legal framework, and the strength to take immediate forceful action against such a fascist destabilization, was quite contained. Do you think that the right wing in power would have had that peaceful vision and a call for dialogue to resolve the conflict? History answers us.

I understand that you may be confused by the great “media” that were in charge of victimizing the perpetrators; just like they did a year ago in Venezuela during the so-called guarimbas.

Therefore, Gabriel, objectively speaking, with serious arguments -without opinions formed and shaped by the media based on misrepresentations and lies repeated daily-, there is no double standard in which we defend Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua.

We do not have disappeared or tortured, we do not imprison those who think or think differently, yes criminals; be these deputies, politicians or supposed students. Rather, it seems to me to see that “double standard” in yourself, by making comfortable value judgments from manipulation and ignorance.

On the media, democracy and freedoms, we can discuss comparing Chile with these countries. I assure you that unfortunately Chile would not fare very well, even more so, if we include human rights, economic and social, which there are nothing more than merchandise.

“A person reaches his highest level of ignorance when he rejects something of which he knows nothing.”

Health.

* Doctor, Coordinator of the Network of Intellectuals in Defense of Humanity, grandson of President Salvador Allende Gossens.

President Diaz-Canel: An efficient control system with popular participation ends corruption and price violations

Source: Granma

December 20 2021

by: Yaditza del Sol González | internet@granma.cu, Susana Antón Rodriguez | susana@granma.cu, Gladys Leidys Ramos López | internet@granma.cu

Photo: José Manuel Correa

In the day of debates this Sunday, among the deputies to the National Assembly of People’s Power, the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Party and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, reflected on strategic issues, especially for the Cuban economy.

Lessons learned from the past year

In the Economic Affairs Committee, Díaz-Canel put into context the lessons learned from this year, marked by the covid-19 and by the blockade, exacerbated with 243 sustained measures that try to suffocate us, provoke an internal situation and generate a social outbreak to overthrow the Revolution.

He also pointed out that if we were to experience the pandemic or a similar situation again, we would surely do things differently, even though the country’s response was remarkable, due to the talent of the people, our scientists, and the health system.

This, he assured, is possible with the completion of the vaccination, which already covers 84.7% of the population with a complete schedule, and, in the same way, the application of the booster dose must be advanced promptly.

The need to work differently

With these aspects in mind, he stressed that the approach of the Budget Plan for 2022 must be different from how we have traditionally worked. He highlighted the importance of understanding that the continuation of the process of economic revival which has begun to manifest itself –even when a complex situation of shortages and shortages still persists – requires that the achievements of the confrontation with COVID-19 must be sustainable and not reversed.

He warned that it is urgent to specify this plan and the Budget Law. If we are forced to return to isolation, to physical distancing, to stop economic and social activity, the proposed indicators cannot be met.

The measures contained, he indicated, are aimed at improving the situation of our economy; it is not that they will solve all the problems, but they will make it possible to advance in a more effective way to the solution. This, in turn, must be combined with everything that we have been promoting in relation to the concept of People’s Power, of defending that exercise with more democracy and participation, as Fidel taught us.

Strengthening Popular Power from the bottom up

He pointed out that it is necessary to work on strengthening Popular Power, recognizing that this comes from the bottom up; from the communities to the municipality, from the municipalities to the provinces, and from the provinces to the country.

Many times, he commented, our actions are guided by the fact that we have become accustomed to decisions coming from above and then we apply them. “When we do that, there are many links in the middle, and we slow down the processes, and also the solutions.”

The proposal of the Plan and the Budget focuses on the need to give powers to the municipalities, stressed the President of the Republic, so that they exercise the autonomy which the Constitution recognizes, thereby addressing problems that have to do with the treatment of the situations of vulnerability in communities.

For there to be democracy and participation, spaces must also be maintained so that the population can discuss, propose, and assess the various situations that surround it, he said.

He argued that there are accountability assemblies, those of the Party nuclei, the office of the delegate of People’s Power with his electors, in addition to the digital mechanisms that have been opened thanks to the process of computerization of society.

Addressing inflation

The Head of State gave a special look to an essential issue: economic inflation. He specified that it must be understood that part of this problem is because the supply is less than the demand, and that today that demand is concentrated in medicines and food, and that this must be promoted. All this in the midst of the pandemic and an intensified blockade, with sustained subversion.

Faced with the challenge of increasing the supply, he reflected on the approval, last April, of 63 measures to promote agricultural production, which arose from meetings with the base, with producers, to learn about their main concerns.  The measures also addressed investments in renewable energy sources, in order to keep changing the country’s energy matrix and to depend less and less on the import of fuels, which will strengthen sovereignty.

In another vein, he commented on the causes that have influenced the rise in some prices in the state sector. One of them, he explained, has been the inefficiencies of the companies whose actions went against the pocket of the population.

Domestic and foreign trade

The First Secretary also focused on the improvement of domestic trade, seeking more quality in services, transparency in management and diversifying offers. At the same time he called for improvement in the development of electronic commerce and the expansion of home delivery.

When we design an efficient control system with popular participation, the problem of corruption ends, and the same happens with the violation of prices and embezzlement, said Díaz-Canel.

In the same way, he insisted, that we have to diversify the mechanisms of foreign trade and foreign investment, in order to make them more agile; as well as perfecting the banking system.

Historic Win for Gabriel Boric in Chile Presidential Elections

Source: TeleSUR

December 19 2021

Apruebo Dignidad candidate Gabriel Boric is Chile’s president-elect, having beat his opponent Jose Antonio Kast in a historic victory for the Left in Latin America. | Photo: Twitter/@KawsachunNews
 

Apruebo Dignidad candidate Gabriel Boric has won Chile’s presidential elections in a historic victory for the Left in Latin America.

Left-wing former student leader Gabriel Boric has beat out far-right candidate Jose Antonio Kast with nearly 100% of the votes tallied, according to figures published by Chile’s electoral authorities SERVEL.

RELATED: Chile Election Update: Polls Have Closed and Vote Count Begins

Winning 55,86% of the votes cast thus far, compared to Kast’s 44,214%, Boric has a wide enough margin of over 11.5 percentage points to be declared winner of this Sunday’s democratic exercise.

Polls officially closed at 6 pm local time in the country’s second-round runoff presidential elections, after which the vote count immediately began and within the span of just two hours, practically all of the total votes had been tallied.

RELATED: World Leaders Celebrate Boric’s Victory in Chile

Speaking to his supporters after his defeat Sunday, Kast said, “”I want to congratulate Gabriel Boric. He deserves all our respects, he won in a very good fight, many Chileans trusted him and we hope he has a very good government.” 

Kast further said in the afternoon from his command center, “Today that journey is a joint one. Today there are great majorities that have been expressed and great balances that have been reached. That balance today is in the Parliament and it is a balance that I believe will help Gabriel Boric to govern. Because we are good people, we look for things that improve the quality of life of the people,” said Kast.

RELATED Latin America Hails Boric’s Victory In Chilean Elections

Boric, in his victory speech to the nation Sunday night, referencing the government’s implicit boycott of the election, said, “I thank the people who tried to vote and were unable to do so due to lack of public transportation, this cannot happen again.”

He continued saying he wanted to “thank the women of our country, who organized themselves throughout the country to defend their hard-earned rights,” stating that “our project is the heir of a long historical trajectory… I will be the president of all Chilean men and women.”

Boric, in his speech, said he would show “respect for human rights everywhere is an unwavering commitment, and that we can never, for any reason, have a president here who declares war on his own people.”

Boric had previously secured victory among Chilean voters abroad, notably in Spain, Germany and France, and has successfully mobilized young people, women and the working class despite considerable difficulties in public transport in the capital Santiago de Chile on election day, in an attempt to prevent voters from reaching polling stations.

Boric and Kast earned the first two spots on Chile’s November 21 first round of elections, beating out five other presidential hopefuls. Yet, this Sunday, Boric’s progressive-oriented platform was able to convince the majority of voters over Kast’s outward sympathy to the Pinochet dictatorship as well as his divisive and xenophobic ideology. 

RELATED: ‘Leftist Winds Blow through Latin America’: The Puebla Group

Inflection EP26: US Torches Solomon Islands for Choosing China

December 14 2021

The US wants Solomon Islands to go against the obvious economic and social benefits that comes from having relations with China,

“Solomon Islands depends on just straight up foreign aid … certain times … anywhere between 50% and 60% of the Solomon Islands government budget comes from foreign aid.  This is not a sovereign country if more than half of all the money you spend is coming  from someone else; there’s always strings attached.  

What is China offering the Solomon Islands?  … number one, tourism;  it’s a no-brainer.  There’s so many  people in China, a lot of them are improving in terms of  economics, they have money to travel, they  want to travel and they will come to the  Solomon Islands in huge numbers, and they will lift that  country up. People will make money selling them things, accommodating them, bringing them around – transportation.  There will be infrastructure that you  can invest in and justify the investment  .. then education, training and building up industrial infrastructure so that the  Solomon Islands has more things that  they can trade.”

The War on Cuba – Part 6