There is life after Debt
The central theme of Latin America Week this year was Debt. Debt is
crippling developing countries around the world and is especially
relevant this year as Central America attempts to recover from the
affects of Hurricane Micth. Over 11,000 people were killed and 3
million people homeless in Honduras and Nicaragua alone.
The president of Nicaragua did not want to declare a state of
emergency in his country for fear to the reactions of the
international lending institutions, the International Monetary Fund
and the World Bank. The debt situation is being highlighted by the
Jubilee 2000 Campaign, an international campaign for the cancellation
of developing countries debt by the new millenium. Jubilee 2,000 aims
to collect the largest number of signatures in the history of the
world calling for debt cancellation. Around 300,000 people have
signed it in Ireland. All the signatures will be presented to the
most richest and powerful governments in the world, the G8 Summit in
Cologne, Germany on the 19 of June. These governments have the last
word on the Debt cancellation.
Ismael Muñoz is an economist, working in the Instituto Bartolome de
las Casas in Lima. He also is a professor at the Catholic University
there. Munoz is in charge of the education commission of Jubilee
2000.
``Jubilee 2000 is a campaign that unites citizens of developed
countries and of underdeveloped countries'' he says.
Asked why Jubilee 2000 wants the cancellation of the Debt, he
explains: ``First of all, because it was illegitimate debt in the
form it originated. In the 1970s almost all the Latin American
governments were military dictatorships that never asked a Congress
or people for permission when they contracted this debt. The
creditors gave this money to the dictators knowing that they were
going to use it badly. We also think that this debt has an immoral
character. Because in order to pay the Debt we sacrifice the
education, the health of many children in our own countries.Twenty,
thirty, 35% of the nation's budgets is diverted to pay the debt and
then the rest is used for the country itself.''
The figures for Latin America as a whole leave little doubt on the
necessity for the cancellation of the debt. ``The external debt in
Latin America in the mid `70's reached approximately $60 billion; in
1980 it was $204 billion; in 1990 it was $443 billion; and it is
estimated that in 1999 it will be around $706 billion, which will
require $123 billion in debt service. Between 1982 and 1996 the
region paid $739 billion in debt service, more than its total
accumulated debt. Under these circumstances, external debt has been
and is unpayable, illegitimate and immoral''. The focus of the
campaign is Europe is on the idea that for every dollar that is given
in terms of help to the third world, the Europeans countries will
receive $9 in payment for external debt. ``so the question is : Who is
the most generous?'', Ismael asks.
Burma's prime minister in Ireland
Burma's prime minister in exile, Dr Sein Win, accompanied by Mr. Harn
Yawnghwe, advisor to Burmese National Coalition government, visited
Ireland last week in an effort to raise awareness of the situation in
the Asian country, ruled by the military since 1962.
During his visit Dr Sein Win met President Mary McAleese, the
minister for Foreign Affairs, David Andrews and parties in Stormont
including Mitchel McLaughlin of Sinn Fein.
Burma, a former British colony in South East Asia has been a military
dictatorship for the last 37 years. In 1988, millions of people
joined a peaceful demonstration across the country demanding food and
basic human rights.The result was a murderous onslaught by the army
in which 10,000 people were killed.
The military decided to hold elections in the spring of 1990 and
despite direct and undemocratic interference in the electoral
proceess, the National League for Democracy (NLD) won 392 of the 485
seats in Parliament.
The military declared the election void and initiated a reign
repression against members of the NLD. The most well known figure for
the party is Aung San Suu Kyi, the daughter of independence hero Aung
San. The military put her under house arrest in Rangoon for six
years. She was released in July 1995 but is not allowed to rejoin her
political party. She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991.
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