LATIN AMERICAN and Caribbean leaders warned of a “new imperialist onslaught” on Sunday during a summit in Venezuela.

Presidents and prime ministers from the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (Alba) bloc met in the capital Caracas on the fourth anniversary of the late Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez’s death — and four months since the demise of Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro.

The bloc, which comprises Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua and six small Caribbean states including Grenada, said the region was passing through a “crucial stage in its history.