Santiago de Cuba.- More firmly establishing the principles of the Bolivarian Alternative for the People of Our America (ALBA), President Hugo Chávez, and the first vice-president of the State Counsel and of Ministers of the Republic of Cuba, Raúl Castro, signed 14 new cooperation agreements of which four agreements in the energy field standout .

Regarding the signing of these new agreements, President Chávez said: “We can’t let our history, our martyrs, our future, and our hopes down,” while referring to the Bolivarian Government’s efforts to build 21st Century Socialism, an economic model different from capitalism, which will allow for the well being of the people.

The head of the Ministry of the People’s Power for Energy and Petroleum (MENPET) and the president of PDVSA, Rafael Ramírez, and the Minister of Basic Industry of Cuba, Yadira García Vera, organized the agreements in terms of refinery and petrochemical.

Said documents forecast the increase in oil refining capacity at the Hermanos Díaz refinery at Santiago de Cuba (which processes a million and a half barrels of crude oil a year), and the Cienfuegos refinery in order to increase their production capacity by 150,000 barrels a day.

Another agreement was signed to reactivate the Matanzas-Cienfuegos oil pipeline, which is connected to the Cienfuegos refinery.

Both Ministers signed another agreement to further develop the chemical and petrochemical industry in the Cuban territories of Ciego de Ávila, Nuevitas, and Sagua la Grande.

Cuban –Venezuelan union through ALBA
These agreements strengthen even further the alliance between Venezuela and Cuba, which translate into the creation of more than 27 mixed companies and the investment of US$1.5 billion this year by the Cuba-Venezuela Mixed Commission.

The union of both countries within the framework of ALBA has allowed the Venezuelan people to be included in a number of different health programs. Currently, there are 39,000 Cuban collaborators working in Venezuela, 31,000 of them in the health industry.

To date, in Venezuela, there are 395 Integral Diagnostic Centers, equipped with the latest equipment, 485 Integral Rehabilitation Centers, and 18 high technology centers.

17 ophthalmology centers have also been built in 14 Venezuelan states, and 480,000 operations have taken place. One out of every 53 Venezuelans has received medical attention and Operación Milagro (Operation Miracle) has attended a million Latin Americans in just three years.

This figures demonstrate that the bonds of friendship between the two revolutionary nations is an irreversible fact, as well as the consolidation of Latin American alliances, under the principles of solidarity that are being promoted by the Bolivarian Government.