Cuba and Venezuela Launch Cultural Integration Initiative CUBA, March 26, 2007.- The 2nd Gathering of Cuban and Venezuelan Writers, held in Caracas last week, agreed to set up a regional network of cultural centers of houses under the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA) regional integration project. The idea of the cultural houses is to promote book publishing, music and filmmaking and be accessible to the majority of the population, said Cuba's Minister of Culture Abel Prieto, a novelist himself. Granma daily reported. Another initiative coming out of the meeting was the idea of a joint publication with contributions from several Latin American countries with distribution throughout the continent and also in Europe. The ALBA is an expanding initiative to foment Latin American and Caribbean integration through mutually beneficial trade and economic cooperation with an emphasis on social development and solidarity. It was created as an alternative to the Free Trade Area of the Americas promoted by the United States, which is market and profit oriented. To date, Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua are ALBA member countries.
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