Honduran peasants receive tractors from Venezuela after joining the ALBA

By Tamara Wattnem

Venezuela donated one hundred tractors to Honduran peasants as part of the benefits of the Bolivarian Alternative for Latin America and the Caribbean (ALBA in Spanish). In a speech given during the event in which Honduran peasants received the tractors, Honduran President Manuel Zelaya claimed that these tractors represent the weapons that will transform Honduras through its ALBA membership. Zelaya also criticized the businessmen and mass media owners who opposed Honduras joining the ALBA.

Venezuela also donated 2 million dollars to Honduras to start a genetics center dedicated to animal reproduction through artificial insemination and a genetic seed bank of improved seed that will benefit 70,000 small-scale farmers.

Honduras joined the ALBA in August of 2008 in spite of a Honduran mass media campaign aimed at discrediting the ALBA. They argued that participating in ALBA would generate an adverse atmosphere for Honduran emigrants to the U.S., predicting that the U.S. government would not expand the Temporary Protection Status (TPS) that has protected more than 70,000 Hondurans since 1998. Despite the media campaign, Honduras joined the ALBA with the vote of 73 representatives. “Honduras and the Honduran people do not have to ask permission of any imperialism to join the ALBA,” President Zelaya emphasized, representing a policy shift for the nation whose primary trading partner is the U.S.

For more information:
http://jbcs.blogspot.com/2009/02/entregan-campesinos-los-tractores.html
http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/3752