Hugo Chavez: States Latin American Populations Must Be United to Succeed CUBA, November 9, 2010.- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Sunday that Latin American populations must be united to resist the threats of Imperialism in order to succeed. During an interview in Havana broadcast simultaneously by Cuban and Venezuelan televisions, Chavez celebrated the tenth anniversary of the Cuba-Venezuela Comprehensive Cooperation Program signed in October 2000 by Fidel Castro and the Venezuelan president. Referring to the agreement signed a decade ago, the Venezuelan leader explained that in spite of an initial proposal to send 100,000 barrels of oil to Cuba each day, under favourable payment conditions, Fidel Castro insisted that the amount be decreased when considering the deplorable social and economic conditions inherited by the Bolivarian Revolution led by Hugo Chavez. As part of this agreement, Cuba began to receive 53,000 barrels of oil per day in exchange for the training of Venezuelan health professionals and the providing of medical services to the Venezuelan people. Chavez added that Cuba has also provided resources and technical assistance in the sugar industry, agriculture, food production, tourism and biological production. Only one month after the accord was signed, thousands of Venezuelan patients began to receive medical treatment in Cuban hospitals and over 23,000 have been treated. The Venezuelan head of state referred to the advances of the Bolivarian process in this past decade in its struggle against poverty and illiteracy. Chávez said, “We have a mutually beneficial, generous and humanistic integrating system that is not based on competitive mechanisms. We are assisting each other to give the best to our people.” He continued by saying, ¨We are proving that we can achieve big goals with few resources but with a lot of will and love.” Chavez also highlighted the role of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of the Americas (ALBA) in the regional integration process. He warned about the danger of a war of incalculable consequences and urged the world to work in favour of peace in accordance with the latest statements by the leader of the Cuban revolution, Fidel Castro. He said, “We have to look to the past, to the present and to the future. In Venezuela, after ten years of Revolution, we are now looking ahead. The Cuban and Venezuelan revolutions will continue to support each other and to work together in upgrading Socialism as Cuban President Raul Castro said.” At the end of the interview, Chávez announced that a new agreement between Cuba and Venezuela for the next ten years would be launched today.
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