Havana, April 10 (RHC)– The Political Council of ALBA-TCP is holding a session in Havana this Monday.  The gathering is expected to review coordination and unity in keeping with developments in the region.

The Havana ALBA-TCP meeting “will serve to continue strengthening unity and the capacity for regional coordination, as well as the integration process in Our Americas,” reads a statement on the Cuban Foreign Ministry’s website.

The meeting follows the 14th Extraordinary Summit of that Latin American integration organization, held last month in Caracas. It is expected to ratify that summit's final declaration and to reaffirm the commitment by member states to honor the principles outlined in the Proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace, adopted in January 2014.

Delivering the opening remarks at the meeting, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez called for unity and solidarity in the face of the rapid pace of development in the region and the threats they pose to peace in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Minister Rodriguez said it was urgent for the gathering to review what has been going on in the area, particularly the recent bullying actions against Venezuela.

He stressed that defending the Venezuelan Revolution should not be exclusive of Venezuela but should be a cause rallying all those who support true independence for Latin America and the Caribbean.

Venezuela is being harassed by the Organization of American States, the OAS, he denounced, describing that institution as servile, pro-imperialist, and used for attacks on progressive governments in South American countries.

The Cuban foreign minister said that the document approved at the 14th ALBA-TCP Summit in Caracas is key for Latin American countries to be able to stand up to the imperial agenda in motion in the region, especially in the face of the onslaught against leftist and progressive governments.