Nine countries of Central and Latin America that have formed an anti-imperialist trading bloc called ALBA held a meeting in Bolivia on October 16-19. The participating countries included Cuba, Bolivia, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

Taking forward their common objective of strengthening their mutual cooperation, the ALBA meeting resolved among other things to establish a common currency for trading arrangements amongst themselves. The currency would be known as “Sucre” (Unified System of Compensation of Reciprocal Payments). According to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, this would be “a step forward to our monetary independence from the US dollar dictatorship.”

The idea was first considered at an ALBA summit held in November 2008 to consider the effects of the global capitalist economic crisis.  The common currency, which is expected to be fully operational by the middle of 2010, is expected to help the participating countries to deal with the impact of the economic crisis by relying on their own resources.

Among other measures considered by the meeting this October were the establishment of an export-import company, Albaexim, to establish a mechanism for cooperative trade between ALBA countries, and the creation of “super-national” companies in sectors such as steel, geological mapping of member nations’ resources, energy, and forestry.

In the context of the ongoing global discussions on climate change, the meeting also mooted the idea of a “climate change tribunal”.  This tribunal, consisting of representatives of underdeveloped countries, would “take on the task of judging those responsible for the climate crisis that our planet is living”.  It would strive to make “developed countries pay their climate debt and effectively reduce their greenhouse gas emissions”.

Overall, the ALBA summit and the moves towards a common currency represent a further development of the process of increasing cooperation among Latin American countries in recent years, in opposition to US-led imperialist hegemony.