Vol. 72/No. 23      June 9, 2008

The conference was convened under the auspices of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas, a trade bloc initiated by the governments of Cuba and Venezuela in 2004 as an alternative to Washington’s “free trade” accords.

The governments of Belize, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Venezuela all sent heads of state or top-level representatives.

According to the World Bank, global food prices have shot up 83 percent over the past three years. Many basic staples, like rice, corn, and wheat, have more than doubled in price.  
 
‘Not a passing crisis’
“This is a structural problem generated by today’s international economic order, not a passing crisis that can be alleviated with palliative or emergency measures,” said Esteban Lazo, vice president of Cuba’s Council of State, who headed that country’s delegation to the summit.

Lazo said that while high oil prices, climate change, the diversion of grain to the production of biofuels, and capitalist speculation contribute to spiraling food prices, “the essence of the crisis is not to be found in these recent phenomena.”

Rather, the Cuban leader said, “it lies in the unequal and unfair distribution of wealth at the global level.”

Lazo also took on the argument that rising food prices are simply the result of greater demand in countries like India and China. “To attribute the crisis to increased consumption by important sectors in certain developing countries … is not only an unfounded argument,” he said, “it also conveys a racist and discriminatory message, which portrays as a problem the fact that millions of human beings should have access, for the first time, to decent and healthy food.”

Many governmental leaders at the summit pointed to policies imposed by wealthy industrialized countries and their financial institutions that have destroyed local agricultural markets in the countries of Latin America, Africa, and Asia, particularly over the last two decades.

Among them was Honduran president Manual Zelaya, who pointed out that Honduras—which once produced 90 percent of its domestic demand—today imports 85 percent of the rice it consumes from the United States. In 1990, facing a $3.6 billion debt to foreign lenders, the Honduran government dismantled protective import tariffs in order to receive loans from the World Bank. Today there are 1,300 rice farmers in the country, compared to 20,000 in 1989.

Skyrocketing prices are particularly devastating for those countries dependent on imports to feed their populations. Haiti, a country dependent on imported grains, is facing massive food shortages. Between February 2007 and January 2008, there were more than 400 demonstrations there against the inflated price of basic foodstuffs, according to UN estimates.

Many of the government representatives said bank loans, regional trade accords, and other measures were needed to boost local agricultural production. This, they advanced, would counter the weight of highly productive, subsidized large-scale capitalist agriculture in the industrialized countries.

Venezuelan foreign minister Nicolás Maduro pointed to steps his government has taken to use oil revenue to boost food production. He presented a proposal that included the establishment of a Latin American bank of seeds, fertilizer, and other inputs to “reduce costs for small and medium producers,” a tax on international flights that would finance agriculture, and called for a summit of oil-producing nations in the region to establish a “special agricultural fund.”

Lazo said, “The problem, as it manifests itself in our region, is, in essence, linked to the precarious situation of small farmers and rural populations living in underdeveloped countries, and the oligopolistic nature of the large transnational companies that control the agricultural food industry.”

That was the situation in Cuba prior to 1959, when some 80 percent of arable land was held by private estates owned by wealthy U.S. and Cuban families. The triumph that year of a socialist revolution opened the door for sweeping change in the organization of Cuban agriculture. The new revolutionary government enacted a land reform limiting private landholdings to 165 acres and distributing 100,000 land titles to rural workers and peasants.

“The truly decisive move,” said Lazo, “is to undertake a profound, structural change of the current international economic and political order, an order which is antidemocratic, unjust, exclusive, and unsustainable.

“Now, it is time to act with unity, audacity, solidarity, and a practical spirit,” Lazo said. “If this is our common goal, you can rely on Cuba.”

The conference’s final declaration agreed “to reject the world’s industrialized countries’ practices of agricultural subsidies and internal aid that impact on the agriculture of impoverished countries and distort trade.” The document also called on countries to prioritize the use of agricultural products for food, not fuel, production. All governments present, with the exception of Costa Rica and El Salvador, signed the declaration.  
 
 
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