ALBA bloc shows solidarity with Venezuela

Member states of the Bolivarian Alliance of the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) on Monday expressed solidarity with embattled Venezuela.

"We reject the aggressions and manipulations against the brother Republic of Venezuela, as well as the falsehood threatening its sovereignty, independence and stability of that nation and of the region," said a joint statement endorsed by the foreign ministers of the ALBA members at the end of a meeting of Political Council in Havana.

The leftist integrationist alliance charged against the Organization of American States (OAS) and its Secretary General Luis Almagro who has led a "campaign" to attack Caracas.

On April 3, the OAS held a special session regarding Venezuela, spearheaded by Almagro, to declare the South American nation in violation of democratic norms.

Almagro has also requested Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to free alleged political prisoners, allow humanitarian aid and call for general elections within 30 days.

"We condemn the illegal and 'pro-imperialist' interference of the OAS secretary general, and his attempts to impede the sovereign exercise of the Venezuelan Republic to practice democracy, as defended by its Constitution, and coherent with the Charter of the United Nations," said the statement.

Maduro, who attended the meeting together with his Cuban counterpart Raul Castro, thanked the bloc members for their support.

The Political Council is considered as the continuation of the XIV ALBA Extraordinary Summit held on March 5 in Caracas, Venezuela, and meant to reject the right-wing and neo-liberal offensive in Latin America.

The ALBA was founded in 2004 by then Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez as an alternative to the U.S.-backed Free Trade Area for the Americas (FTAA), and comprises Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda, Ecuador, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and Grenada. Endi