Quito, August 24 (RHC)-- Ecuador announced Thursday it was withdrawing from the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA). According to Foreign Minister José Valencia, “The decision to leave ALBA is a firm decision of Ecuador, which seeks to ratify the independence of our country.”

Political analysts say that since taking office in May 2017, Ecuadorean President Lenin Moreno has turned his back on the social gains of the administration of his predecessor Rafael Correa and the Citizen Revolution.  Moreno has implemented neo-liberal economic reforms and taken positions favorable to the United States and against regional integration. 

The Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) was founded in 2005 by Cuba and Venezuela as a progressive alternative to the proposed Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA). 

Among the countries, which form part of the Bolivarian Alliance, are Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Dominica, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Grenada, and Suriname.