Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has ushered three new countries into a bloc of leftist-led allies.The Bolivarian Alternative bloc grew to nine countries with new members Ecuador, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Antigua and Barbuda.
Other members include Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia, Dominica, Honduras and Nicaragua. Chavez has promoted the group as a socialist integration effort and an alternative to U.S.-proposed free trade pacts.
The group's acronym in Spanish, ALBA, means "dawn." Chavez told leaders at a summit on Wednesday that the effort is aimed at a "great battle for the independence of our America."
Leaders attending the talks included Ecuador's Rafael Correa, Bolivia's Evo Morales and Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua.
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