Maduro arrived in Havana today for a meeting of the Alianza Bolivariana para los Pueblos de Nuestra América [Bolivarian Alliance of for the People of Latin America, ALBA], a regional organization started by Chavez and Castro in 2004.
Cuban president Miguel Diaz-Canel opened the meeting by calling on its members to see ALBA has a “platform of political coordination” to defend “independence [and] peace”.
ALBA currently has nine full members:
- Antigua and Barbuda
- Cuba
- Dominica
- Grenada
- Nicaragua
- Saint Christopher and Nevis
- Saint Lucia
- Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
- Venezuela
Ecuador withdrew in 2018, while Bolivia pulled out after the ouster of Evo Morales.
Bloomberg: Erik Prince Prince Met VP in Caracas
The Associated Press (AP) (Correction: I believe that the news was first reported by Bloomberg in this article) reported yesterday that Erik Prince, “a major Trump donor” and founder of the Backwater (now Academi) private military contractor firm, met with vice president Delcy Rodriguez in Caracas last month.
According to Bloomberg, the meeting took place last month, with Prince flying to the Venezuelan capital “on behalf of the Trump administration” to allegedly ask for the release of six Citgo employees. The meeting is alleged to have taken place as Rodriguez’s private residence.
Blackwater became infamous after its military contractors have been implicated in killings in Iraq, including the massacre of over a dozen civilians in October 2007. Prince’s sister is Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, a controversial figure in the Trump administration.
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