ARGENTINA
IMF can't squeeze blood from a stone
By Alicia Jrapko
Eduardo Galeano, the Uruguayan writer,
ironically defined "foreign debt" as "the commitment that each
Latin American inherits when he is born. This modest amount of
$2,000 will some day finance the club that will be used to
strike him."
Who is responsible for the economic crisis of the Third
World countries? International corporations and their financial
institutions, such as the International Monetary Fund and the
World Bank. These institutions, together with compliant local
governments, have masterminded the theft and ripoff of the
entire region for decades through drawing the countries into
debt.
The negotiations that decide how these loans are to be
repaid are never held up to public scrutiny and debate, but
rather are decided behind closed doors by way of threats and
bribes. Once the deal is made, the workers, especially the most
vulnerable, must suffer the austerity measures that are sure to
follow.
At the beginning of the 1970s, the United States started to
impose on Latin America what is called the neoliberal economic
model. In Argentina, it led directly to a bloody military coup
by the murderous general Jorge Rafael Videla. At that time the
foreign debt of this South American country was $9.7
million.
In May 2003, when Nestor Kirchner took office as president
of Argentina, the debt had risen to $160 billion. Among other
things, during his inaugural address, Kirchner promised, "The
international financial agencies have to understand that the
external debt cannot be paid at the cost of the Argentine
people's suffering."
The people's hope that Kirchner would not pay the foreign
debt dissipated in mid-September, however, when he negotiated
an agreement with the International Monetary Fund just a day
after Argentina defaulted on a $2.9-billion debt payment. In
the three-year pact, the country will pay only the interest due
on the $13 billion it owes the IMF. For some of the
blood-sucking officials of the Group of Seven imperialist
countries, this was attacked as a "cave-in" by the fund.
One of the reasons the IMF had to take a "soft" approach
with Argentina is because the workers and poor are still in
motion and are watching very closely every move of Kirchner's
administration. At this point his popularity remains high,
because he has taken measures that for years have been the
central demands of many Argentineans.
When he became president, Kirchner almost immediately
removed the upper command levels of the armed forces and
announced that top commanders of the federal police would also
be replaced. He took aim at the Supreme Court and asked
Congress to impeach some justices on corruption charges. He
also declared the "Full Stop" and "Due Obedience" laws null and
void. Also known as amnesty laws, these have for many years
kept victims of the brutal military leaders from obtaining
truth and justice. Groups such as the Association of Mothers of
the Plaza de Mayo, whose children were "disappeared" by the
military rulers, welcomed and applauded Kirchner's move. But
all of that could change quickly, as the economic burden on the
masses increases.
The IMF demands that Argentina compensate the banks for last
year's collapse in the value of the peso, and that it raise
utility prices. This would turn basic necessities like
electricity, water and gas into luxuries for many Argentineans.
But no date has been set to carry this out.
On Sept. 9, while negotiations were taking place, many
people took to the streets to protest the presence of the IMF
negotiator. The IMF knows that if the government of Argentina
decides not to pay on the foreign debt, it would set an example
with unpredictable consequences for the region.
But paying the foreign debt is not the only alternative open
to Latin America. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez recently
called for a continental referendum on the question of whether
South American countries should pay their external debt.
The people of Latin America owe nothing to any imperialist
financial institution. They have never benefited from these
loans. The capitalist myth that Argentina was a great economic
model for Latin America has evaporated and hard reality has set
in.
The elections of "Lula" da Silva in Brazil, Chávez in
Venezuela and Kirchner in Argentina have brought some hope to
the workers and poor. Cosmetic changes to reform capitalism or
make it more humane are taking place in the region. But if the
U.S. neoliberal model continues intact, nothing will solve the
problem of the masses. Real changes will come only when the
workers can finally take control of their own destiny.
Reprinted from the Oct. 2, 2003, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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