|
The Interamerican Development Bank, IDB, should write off Latinamerica poor countries debt because this will contribute to regional development and help reduce illegal migration to United States argued US Hispanic members of Congress.
Fifteen Hispanic Democrats from Congress addressed a letter to US Secretary of the Treasury John Snow requesting he intercedes in favor of the highly indebted countries during the current IDB annual general assembly taking place in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
In the letter Congressmen specifically mention Bolivia, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras and Nicaragua. They further argue that the IDB must condone debts without imposing "economic conditions" and urgently, since "delays means lost lives".
The Congressmen underlined that poverty, lack of opportunities is one of the main factors behind illegal immigration to the United States, and therefore debt relief in the region will benefit not only poor countries but the US also. Last year the G-8 group of the world's richest countries (Canada, France, UK, US, Japan, Italy, Germany and Russia) promised to condone 100% of the world's (38) poorest countries debts. Following the G-8 statement the IMF condoned the debts of the poorest countries and the World Bank is scheduled to follow beginning next July. However no mention was made to the Development banks debts such as the IDB in the Americas. Nicaragua, Haiti, Bolivia, Honduras and Guyana have debts of almost 3.5 billion US dollars with the IDB, according to the Hispanic Congress members. Bolivia owes the majority, 48%, of the five countries total debt to the IDB. Other organizations would like to see Ecuador and Peru included in the list of condonation. In his speech before the IDB assembly Bolivian president Evo Morales was the first to propose that the bank eliminate some of the debt of the five countries, Guyana, Honduras, Nicaragua, Haiti and Bolivia. But some Latinamerican countries have reservations including Mexico and Brazil. Brazil's Planning Minister Paulo Bernardo said Bolivia's plans needed much closer scrutiny. "This has to be talked about and negotiated because the question is, 'who is going to be responsible in financial terms?'". Mexico on the other hand which supports the debt relief package, does not want to be responsible for paying for it, said Mexico's Finance Minister Francisco Gil. Besides, President Morales' administration has announced its intention of nationalizing the country's natural gas reserves and increasing the price of gas for export. This decision would have an important impact on Brazil, said Sergio Gabrielli, the president of Brazilian oil company Petrobras. Brazil and Bolivia are scheduled to begin talks on the issue in the coming days. "We have no problems in discussing prices, but Bolivia supplies half of Brazil's consumption and any alteration in prices will have an impact in demand," added Mr. Gabrielli. According to the Brazilian press, Bolivian gas costs US$ 3.2 per million BTU, and in New York Mercantile Exchange the price is just above US$ 7 per million BTU. Mercopress - www.mercopress.com
 |
Subscribe to this comment's feed
The small, coastal town of Condé is located just a twenty minute's drive from João Pessoa, the capital of Paraíba. The Northeast of Brazil has historically been a place of encounter and mixing between peoples. For millenia groups of indigenous people fished, farmed, migrated and sometimes fought along this large, fertile area. 
The Brazilian diplo-MÁ-cia (bad diplomacy) carries on its accelerated course towards the non-acknowledgment of human rights, although sometimes it takes pleasure in saying that it does precisely the opposite. The visit of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is another example of a diplomatic omission that verges on hypocrisy. 
On July 4, 2006, representatives of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay met in Caracas to sign the protocol for the entrance of Venezuela into the Southern Common Market (Mercosur). After two and a half years, the protocol was approved by the legislative bodies of Argentina and Uruguay, and as of now it may be only days away from being ratified by the continent's economic megalith, Brazil. 
Some sectors of the fight against AIDS have suggested that Thabo Mbeki, the former president of South Africa, committed genocide through his absence from the fight against the illness in his country throughout his two terms. 
One hundred and eleven years after Brazil abolished slavery, the number of workers deprived of their freedom is still huge. They raise cattle, produce charcoal, sugar cane or timber. Some of them, most undocumented Bolivians, work in basements of small apparel factories in São Paulo and other metropolis. 
On November 7, 2009 a few friends and I had an opportunity to take a look inside a Brazilian jail outside the city of Rio de Janeiro. We were able to take some amateur footage of our experience on video (see link below). It's no surprise, of course, that the typical Brazilian jail lacks some of the functionality of those in North America or Europe, but our experience that day was quite shocking. 
Depletion of the Amazon Rainforest is not a new concern facing environmentalists, biologists, ecologists, and a growing number of the Amazonian indigenous peoples. For decades they have feared for the fate of the world's most biologically diverse and species-rich hothouse. 
Geisy Arruda made history this week in Brazil, but for all the wrong reasons. What began as a poorly planned fashion statement has become a worldwide tale. Geisy decided to wear a pink mini-dress to her private college in São Paulo state, and after that, all hell broke loose. 
The push of vigilante groups in Rio de Janeiro's favelas (shantytowns) in the last three years is the most important and alarming information of the just-released study by the Rio de Janeiro University's Violence Research Center (Nupev-Uerj). 
A dispute over drug trafficking territory in Rio de Janeiro has intensified lately, leaving in its wake unprecedented acts of violence, such as the downing of a police helicopter in the northern zone of the city on October 17. Three policemen died and another two were injured. This event has drawn the attention of the international media, who are raising the issue of public security for the 2016 Olympics to be held in Rio.
What total and utter bullshit! Like the "forgiving" of these debts are going to directly contribute to the improvement and betterment of the economy in those countries, generate jobs, have an impact on poverty, etc. A large percentage of this debt has been deposited directly into the accounts of the corrupt politicians in these countries!! Now they should just be forgiven?? For what? To continue to reinforce the current attitudes of corruption that already exists?!!
NO, actually, what needs to be done is not a "forbearance", but an INCREASE in the interest and penalties imposed in case of late payments or no payments! That way, when the few that are educated in these countries discover the "safadeza" from their own politicians, maybe their start to kill a few of the bastards!