FTAA interred at Mal del Plata

3rd SUMMIT OF THE PEOPLES OF AMERICA
FTAA interred at Mal del Plata
• Next comes the turn of capitalism, affirms Hugo Chávez
• More than 80,000 people on anti-Bush march • Impressive event in World Stadium

MAR DEL PLATA, Argentina, November 4. - The FTAA has been defeated by the peoples of this continent and today saw its interment in Mal del Plata. But this does not mean that capitalism is dead; capitalism is the next to be buried and for that we shall have to fight much harder, affirmed Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez to the 80,000-plus participants on the march against US President W. Bush and his imperialist project of domination.

After a 3-hour march along the central Independence Avenue to the World Stadium, demonstrators from all parts of our hemisphere shared their common dreams and ideas with Chávez, whom they identified as the voice of Our America in the other summit organized by the White House, whose 4th edition began this Friday afternoon.

FIDEL IN THE COMBAT

After analyzing the current situation in the region, the Bolivarian leader communicated a piece of news that aroused prolonged applause and cheering. Just before entering the stadium he spoke by phone with President Fidel Castro who had seen the march live on television and followed the event via Telesur, and sent his greetings to everyone.

Chávez said that he had said goodbye to his friend with his habitual phrase: "Ever onward to victory, Patria o Muerte, Venceremos," and "Fidel, in an emotional voice, like a roar of thunder that crossed the Caribbean, the Orinoco, Amazonia, La Plata River and reached as far as here, told me: 'Chávez, long live Che!'"

CHALLENGES AND ALTERNATIVES

In a packed stadium, the Venezuelan president affirmed that to win the major undertaking against imperialism, we have to follow the formula given by Simón Bolívar: Constance and more constance; patience and more patience; work and more work; unity and more unity to make our utopia possible, to achieve the salvation of our peoples.

It is not only about saying No to the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) but constructing an alternative way. And that is where are proposal for the ALBA (Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas) is inscribed, the continuation of the 200-year project initiated by our forefathers, he emphasized.


Cuban delegation leaves the 3rd Summit of the peoples

Venezuela and Cuba, he commented, have advanced with a firm step, much political will and popular participation in the construction of the ALBA, with great efforts in the political, social, economic and technological spheres.

As a result of a strategic agreement between the two countries, Venezuela has defeated illiteracy in less than two years. In that short period one and a half million Venezuelans have learned to read and write and are going on to reach 6th grade.

That is the proposal that I am taking to the Presidents' Summit: let's stop going from summit to summit, from speeches to more speeches and let's go directly to defeat illiteracy in Latin America, where there are close to 40 million illiterate people and if one includes functional illiterates, the total is 200 million.

To be continued...