The seventh summit of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA) closed on Saturday 17 in Cochabamba, Bolivia with the determination to replace the dollar in trade and the adoption of economic sanctions against the de facto government of Honduras. There was no agreement on the proposal of the president of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, of forming "a defensive military alliance. He pitched the idea, he said, given the threats of the empire and he did after hearing a report on the crisis in Honduras.

“Who can forbid sovereign countries from making a defensive military alliance and cross training soldiers and officers and sharing equipment and logistics?" Chavez asked in the second and final session of the Summit of ALBA.

President Evo Morales, who presided over the appointment of representatives, however disagreed with the proposal to make a "rapid resolution" to this controversial proposal and, instead, asked to study the issue.

While the Summit had raised three economic issues, political discourse was overwhelming, especially with the call to reaffirm socialist bloc anti – imperialism and to confront what was termed the “plotting against” ALBA citing the ouster of the President in Honduras and the U.S. military presence in Colombia.

Ecuador''s President Rafael Correa has urged the US "to be very careful" because in his view, "there must be a restoration of right" and gave as an example the situation of Honduras and the U.S. military presence in Colombia.

The crisis in Honduras was an overriding concern because the continuity of the de facto government is seen as an attack on ALBA.  At the time representative of the deposed President Manuel Zelaya, Patricia Rhodes, said the dialogue with the de facto government of Roberto Micheletti "has been finally broken"-information that was not endorsed in Tegucigalpa. The presidents approved a statement to impose "economic and trade sanctions against the coup regime.”

After a short discussion on the importance of trade relations, the presidents and representatives of ALBA members signed the treaty establishing the Unified System of Regional Compensation (Sucre) that aims to replace the dollar in trade between countries. In the future, the bloc''s members intend to make this system a currency, as occurred in the European Union.

During the summit, Chavez also was ironic about the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to U.S. President, Barack Obama, and asked him to really earn that award by lifting the trade embargo on Cuba. In fact, he said that the only person deserving of recognition is Evo Morales.