ALBA provides for these three areas - the political alliance with Venezuela brings in lower interest loans and oil is traded to other ALBA members in return for services and products instead of currency, allowing countries with poor access to US dollars (or other trade-able currencies) to trade what they do have (and what Venezuela does want - food and services).
It will be interesting to see how developed this trade network can become. In Honduras, as the article talks about, it has to overcome a very corrupt political system and a very poorly developed political, social and economic infrastructure. Unlike in Bolivia, where ALBA has also come with political reforms of the Morales government, in Honduras the President is part of one of the two traditional parties and therefore is not accompaning wider political reforms... reforms that both Nicaragua (under the Sandanistas in the 80s) and Cuba have undergone in the past. Honduras' problems will be an interesting challenge to the future of ALBA. But if FMLN wins the election in El Salvador, there will be 3 Central American countries part of ALBA, directly challenging US economic hegemony in the region and hopefully encourage regional friendships. Guatemala, the largest country and economy in the region, would also be increasingly interested in ALBA and has a government that is at least partially interested in presenting a centre-left image.
These kinds of 'real' gains made by Latin American leftist governments go underreported in comparison to all the challenges they have faced by the rightwing and the fascist opposition. They however are clearer steps of progress for Chavez and his goal of creating interregional relationships outside of the sphere of US influence. The biggest threat the US now holds over these countries is restricting their largest source of foreign capital - remittances from undocumented workers.
HONDURAS: Joining ALBA ‘A Step Towards the Centre-Left,’ Says President
By Thelma Mejía
TEGUCIGALPA, Aug 26 (IPS) — Honduras has joined the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA), amid criticism from the business community and right-wing political sectors.
Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, who took office in 2006, and Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez signed the membership document Monday in the presence of Presidents Evo Morales of Bolivia and Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua, and Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage.
Chávez initially promoted ALBA, which now has six members — Bolivia, Cuba, Dominica, Honduras, Nicaragua and Venezuela — to counteract the U.S.- led plan to create a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), which has now collapsed.
ALBA was launched at the People’s Summit held in parallel to the official meeting of heads of state at the Fourth Summit of the Americas in Mar del Plata, Argentina in 2005, as an alternative to the "neoliberal" (free market) model, embodying cooperation, solidarity and complementarity and committed to fighting poverty, inequality and unequal terms of trade, according to its founding document.
Chávez highlighted Zelaya’s "courage, because in spite of the demonisation of ALBA, he has not hesitated to join a Latin American integration project based on the thinking and spirit of our foremost heroes."
"Today we are signing not only a fraternal pact of solidarity, but also an integration project for Latin America that stands out as an alternative to imperial hegemony and integrates progressive governments that are proposing a way out of oppressive imperialism," Chávez said.
...
Honduras’ entry into ALBA is "an act of freedom, because we are a free and sovereign people," Zelaya said. "This is a heroic act of independence and we need no one’s permission to sign this commitment. Today we are taking a step towards becoming a government of the centre-left, and if anyone dislikes this, well just remove the word ‘centre’ and keep the second one."
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http://www.bilaterals.org/article.php3?id_article=13046
