Panama City, April 11 (teleSUR-RHC) The heads of state of the member countries of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of America (ALBA) met early Saturday in Panama, where regional leaders have gathered in order to participate in the Summit of the Americas.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro made the announcement on Saturday, adding that ALBA leaders will formally invite Panama to join the Petrocaribe initiative. “I am going to propose that we extend our brotherly arms. Hopefully Panama joins Petrocaribe, that will facilitate the arrival of many cultural, education, and food programs. Petrocaribe is a reality, not false advertising. It is a project to liberate peoples,” said President Maduro.

The U.S. government has recently been working to try to undermine the Petrocaribe initiative, which sells Venezuelan oil to low-income countries in the region under preferential terms.

Upon his arrival in Panama, President Nicolas Maduro visited the site of one of the most infamous battles of the 1989 U.S. invasion of Panama, he told the assembled crowd that he would work to extend solidarity programs to the people of Panama. Maduro also promised to deliver a letter from the victims of the U.S. invasion of Panama directly to U.S. President Barack Obama.

In an interview with teleSUR, Bolivian President Evo Morales also said that the meeting of the ALBA leaders is expected to feature discussion on a collective statement regarding Obama's executive order that declared Venezuela a “threat” to the national security of the United States. “We will hold a meeting between the presidents of the ALBA bloc so we can decide how to wage this great battle, ideological battle, problematic battle for our sovereignty in this Summit of the Americas,” said Morales.