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<span
style="font-family:lato,helvetica
neue,helvetica,arial,sans-serif">
<div id="attachment_58371"
class="wp-caption
aligncenter"><img
aria-describedby="caption-attachment-58371"
loading="lazy"
class="wp-image-58371
size-full img-responsive
mcRssImage"
src="https://thetricontinental.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/20220411_Web-Feature.jpg"
alt=""
srcset="https://thetricontinental.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/20220411_Web-Feature.jpg
950w,
https://thetricontinental.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/20220411_Web-Feature-300x225.jpg
300w,
https://thetricontinental.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/20220411_Web-Feature-768x576.jpg
768w" sizes="(max-width:
950px) 100vw, 950px"
style="max-width:
100%;width:
100%;padding-bottom:
0;display:
inline;vertical-align:
bottom;border: 0;height:
auto;outline:
none;text-decoration:
none;-ms-interpolation-mode:
bicubic;"
moz-do-not-send="true"
width="950" border="0">
<p
id="caption-attachment-58371"
class="wp-caption-text"
style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;"><span
style="color: #ba2025;">Shengtian
Zheng and Jinbo Sun, <i>Winds
of Fusang</i>, 2017.
‘Fusang’ is an ancient
Chinese word referring
to what some believe to
be the shores of Mexico.
The work is an homage to
Latin America’s
influence on China,
particularly that of
Mexican artists on the
development of modern
Chinese art.</span></p>
</div>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;">Dear
friends,</p>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;">Greetings
from the desk of <a
href="https://leftword.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6a79324d3b4acfde1e7e546c6&id=ca34329c00&e=d206d0a40d"
style="mso-line-height-rule: exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust:
100%;color:
#007C89;font-weight:
normal;text-decoration:
underline;"
moz-do-not-send="true">Tricontinental:
Institute for Social
Research</a>.</p>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;">In
early March, Argentina’s
government came to an <a
href="https://leftword.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6a79324d3b4acfde1e7e546c6&id=951945161e&e=d206d0a40d"
style="mso-line-height-rule: exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust:
100%;color:
#007C89;font-weight:
normal;text-decoration:
underline;"
moz-do-not-send="true">agreement</a>
with the International
Monetary Fund (IMF) on a $45
billion deal to shore up its
shaky finances. This deal
was motivated by the
government’s need to pay a
$2.8 billion instalment on a
$57 billion IMF <a
href="https://leftword.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6a79324d3b4acfde1e7e546c6&id=4f0f8929ca&e=d206d0a40d"
style="mso-line-height-rule: exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust:
100%;color:
#007C89;font-weight:
normal;text-decoration:
underline;"
moz-do-not-send="true">stand-by
loan</a> taken out under
former President Mauricio
Macri in 2018. This loan –
the largest loan in the
financial institution’s
history – sharpened divides
in Argentinian society. The
following year, the Macri
administration was ousted in
elections by the centre-left
Frente de Todos coalition
which campaigned on a sharp
anti-austerity, anti-IMF
programme.</p>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;">When
President Alberto Fernández
took office in December
2019, he refused the final
$13 billion tranche of the
IMF’s loan package, a move
applauded by large sections
of Argentinian society. The
next year, Fernández’s
government was able to
restructure the $66 billion
debt held by wealthy
bondholders and open
discussions with the IMF to
delay repayment of the debt
incurred by Macri’s
government. But the IMF was
rigid – it insisted on
repayment. Neither the Macri
loan nor the new deal under
President Fernández settles
Argentina’s long-term
struggle with its public
finances.</p>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;"> </p>
<div id="attachment_58750"
class="wp-caption
aligncenter"><img
aria-describedby="caption-attachment-58750"
loading="lazy"
class="wp-image-58750
size-full img-responsive
mcRssImage"
src="https://thetricontinental.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Carlos-Alonso-Argentina-La-oreja-1972..jpg"
alt=""
srcset="https://thetricontinental.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Carlos-Alonso-Argentina-La-oreja-1972..jpg
950w,
https://thetricontinental.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Carlos-Alonso-Argentina-La-oreja-1972.-300x183.jpg
300w,
https://thetricontinental.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Carlos-Alonso-Argentina-La-oreja-1972.-768x469.jpg
768w" sizes="(max-width:
950px) 100vw, 950px"
style="max-width:
100%;width:
100%;padding-bottom:
0;display:
inline;vertical-align:
bottom;border: 0;height:
auto;outline:
none;text-decoration:
none;-ms-interpolation-mode:
bicubic;"
moz-do-not-send="true"
width="950" border="0">
<p
id="caption-attachment-58750"
class="wp-caption-text"
style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;"><span
style="color: #ba2025;">Carlos
Alonso (Argentina), <i>La
oreja</i>, 1972.</span></p>
</div>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;">The
term ‘odious debt’ is used
to describe the money owed
by societies whose
governments have been
undemocratic. The concept
was crafted by Alexander
Nahum Sack in his book <i>The
Effects of State
Transformations on Their
Public Debts and Other
Financial Obligations</i>
(1927). ‘If a despotic power
incurs a debt not for the
needs or in the interests of
the State, but to strengthen
its despotic regime, to
repress its population that
fights against it, etc.’,
Sack <a
href="https://leftword.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6a79324d3b4acfde1e7e546c6&id=14a299d49c&e=d206d0a40d"
style="mso-line-height-rule: exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust:
100%;color:
#007C89;font-weight:
normal;text-decoration:
underline;"
moz-do-not-send="true">wrote</a>,
‘this debt is odious for the
population of the State’.
When that despotic regime
falls, then the debt falls.</p>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;">When
Argentina’s military ruled
the country (1976–83), the
IMF generously lent it
money, ballooning the
country’s debt from $7
billion at the time the
military took power to $42
billion when the military
was ousted. Plainly, the
IMF’s provision of funds to
the Argentinian military
junta – which killed,
tortured, and disappeared
30,000 people – set in
motion the ugly cycle of
debt and despair that
continues till today. That
those ‘odious debts’ were
not annulled – just as the
apartheid debt was not
annulled in South Africa –
tells us a great deal about
the ugly reality of
international finance.</p>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;"> </p>
<div id="attachment_58760"
class="wp-caption
aligncenter"><img
aria-describedby="caption-attachment-58760"
loading="lazy"
class="wp-image-58760
size-full img-responsive
mcRssImage"
src="https://thetricontinental.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Gracia-Barrios-Chile-Desaparecidos-1973..jpg"
alt=""
srcset="https://thetricontinental.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Gracia-Barrios-Chile-Desaparecidos-1973..jpg
950w,
https://thetricontinental.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Gracia-Barrios-Chile-Desaparecidos-1973.-300x229.jpg
300w,
https://thetricontinental.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Gracia-Barrios-Chile-Desaparecidos-1973.-768x587.jpg
768w" sizes="(max-width:
950px) 100vw, 950px"
style="max-width:
100%;width:
100%;padding-bottom:
0;display:
inline;vertical-align:
bottom;border: 0;height:
auto;outline:
none;text-decoration:
none;-ms-interpolation-mode:
bicubic;"
moz-do-not-send="true"
width="950" border="0">
<p
id="caption-attachment-58760"
class="wp-caption-text"
style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;"><span
style="color: #ba2025;">Gracia
Barrios (Chile), <i>Desaparecidos</i>,
1973.</span></p>
</div>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;">The
deal cut by the IMF with the
Fernández government is
exactly like other deals
that the IMF has made with
fragile countries. During
the pandemic, 85% of the
IMF’s loans to developing
countries <a
href="https://leftword.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6a79324d3b4acfde1e7e546c6&id=1bed3b42cc&e=d206d0a40d"
style="mso-line-height-rule: exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust:
100%;color:
#007C89;font-weight:
normal;text-decoration:
underline;"
moz-do-not-send="true">came</a>
with austerity conditions
that sharpened their social
crises. Three of the most
common conditions of these
IMF loans are cuts and
freezes to public sector
wages, the increase and
introduction of value-added
taxes, and deep cuts to
public expenditure (notably
for consumer subsidies).
Through its new deal with
Argentina, the IMF will
inspect the operations of
the government four times
per year, effectively
becoming an overseer of the
Argentinian economy. The
government has agreed to
reduce the budget deficit
from 3% (2021) to 0.9%
(2024) to 0% (2025); to
accomplish this, it will
have to cut large areas of
social spending, including
subsidies for a range of
consumer goods.</p>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;">After
reaching the agreement, IMF
Managing Director Kristalina
Georgieva pointed out the
great difficulties faced by
Argentina, though these
difficulties will not be
ameliorated by the IMF plan.
‘Argentina continues to face
exceptional economic and
social challenges, including
depressed per capita income,
elevated poverty levels,
persistent high inflation, a
heavy debt burden, and low
external buffers’, she <a
href="https://leftword.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6a79324d3b4acfde1e7e546c6&id=80bd5cde6b&e=d206d0a40d"
style="mso-line-height-rule: exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust:
100%;color:
#007C89;font-weight:
normal;text-decoration:
underline;"
moz-do-not-send="true">said</a>.
Consequently, Georgieva
noted, ‘Risks to the program
are exceptionally high’,
meaning that further default
is all but certain.</p>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;"> </p>
<div id="attachment_58780"
class="wp-caption
aligncenter"><img
aria-describedby="caption-attachment-58780"
loading="lazy"
class="wp-image-58780
size-full img-responsive
mcRssImage"
src="https://thetricontinental.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/05102018-cover-1-1.jpg"
alt=""
srcset="https://thetricontinental.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/05102018-cover-1-1.jpg
950w,
https://thetricontinental.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/05102018-cover-1-1-300x291.jpg
300w,
https://thetricontinental.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/05102018-cover-1-1-768x746.jpg
768w" sizes="(max-width:
950px) 100vw, 950px"
style="max-width:
100%;width:
100%;padding-bottom:
0;display:
inline;vertical-align:
bottom;border: 0;height:
auto;outline:
none;text-decoration:
none;-ms-interpolation-mode:
bicubic;"
moz-do-not-send="true"
width="950" border="0">
<p
id="caption-attachment-58780"
class="wp-caption-text"
style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;"><span
style="color: #ba2025;">Shengtian
Zheng and Jinbo Sun, <i>Winds
of Fusang</i> (close
up), 2017.</span></p>
</div>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;">A
few weeks before Argentina
came to terms with the IMF,
President Fernández and
China’s President Xi Jinping
held a bilateral meeting in
Beijing at which Argentina <a
href="https://leftword.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6a79324d3b4acfde1e7e546c6&id=33dda46be2&e=d206d0a40d"
style="mso-line-height-rule: exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust:
100%;color:
#007C89;font-weight:
normal;text-decoration:
underline;"
moz-do-not-send="true">signed</a>
onto the Chinese-led Belt
and Road Initiative (BRI).
Argentina is the
twenty-first country from
Latin America to join the
BRI. It is also the largest
economy from the region to
join, pending applications
from Brazil and Mexico.
Expectations rose amongst
sections in Argentina that
the BRI would provide a
pathway to exit the grip of
the IMF. This remains a
possibility even as
President Fernández returned
to the IMF.</p>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;">Our
team in Buenos Aires has
been looking carefully at
China’s growing ties with
the Caribbean and Latin
America. These studies
resulted in our most recent
<a
href="https://leftword.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6a79324d3b4acfde1e7e546c6&id=3ebaaa3f54&e=d206d0a40d"
style="mso-line-height-rule: exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust:
100%;color:
#007C89;font-weight:
normal;text-decoration:
underline;"
moz-do-not-send="true">dossier</a>
no. 51, <i>Looking Towards
China: Multipolarity as an
Opportunity for the Latin
American People</i> (April
2022). The main argument of
the dossier is that the
emergence of programmes such
as the BRI offers countries
such as Argentina choices
for development finance. If
Argentina has more latitude
in choosing its avenues for
finance, then it will be
better positioned to reject
harsh offers of stand-by
assistance from the IMF
which come with conditions
of austerity. The
possibility of these choices
opens the door for countries
such as Argentina to develop
an authentic national and
regional development
strategy that is not written
by the IMF staff in
Washington, DC.</p>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;">The
dossier is quite clear that
the mere entry of the BRI
into the Caribbean and Latin
America is not sufficient.
Deeper projects are
necessary:</p>
<p style="padding-left:
40px;margin: 10px 0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;">It
is possible for Chinese
integration to further the
‘development of
underdevelopment’ if the
Latin American state
projects produce a new
relationship of dependency
on China by merely exporting
primary products. On the
other hand, it will be far
better for the region’s
peoples if the relationship
is based on equality
(multipolarity) as well as
the transfer of technology,
the upscaling of production
processes, and regional
integration (national and
regional sovereignty).</p>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;"> </p>
<div id="attachment_58800"
class="wp-caption
aligncenter"><img
aria-describedby="caption-attachment-58800"
loading="lazy"
class="wp-image-58800
size-full img-responsive
mcRssImage"
src="https://thetricontinental.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Josefina-Robirosa-Argentina-Bosque-azul-1993-94..jpg"
alt=""
srcset="https://thetricontinental.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Josefina-Robirosa-Argentina-Bosque-azul-1993-94..jpg
800w,
https://thetricontinental.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Josefina-Robirosa-Argentina-Bosque-azul-1993-94.-300x300.jpg
300w,
https://thetricontinental.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Josefina-Robirosa-Argentina-Bosque-azul-1993-94.-150x150.jpg
150w,
https://thetricontinental.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Josefina-Robirosa-Argentina-Bosque-azul-1993-94.-768x768.jpg
768w" sizes="(max-width:
800px) 100vw, 800px"
style="max-width:
100%;width:
100%;padding-bottom:
0;display:
inline;vertical-align:
bottom;border: 0;height:
auto;outline:
none;text-decoration:
none;-ms-interpolation-mode:
bicubic;"
moz-do-not-send="true"
width="800" border="0">
<p
id="caption-attachment-58800"
class="wp-caption-text"
style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;"><span
style="color: #ba2025;">Josefina
Robirosa (Argentina), <i>Bosque
azul </i>(‘Blue
Forest’), 1993-94.</span></p>
</div>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;">The
BRI’s annual disbursement of
funds is around $50 billion,
with <a
href="https://leftword.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6a79324d3b4acfde1e7e546c6&id=cbabea6120&e=d206d0a40d"
style="mso-line-height-rule: exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust:
100%;color:
#007C89;font-weight:
normal;text-decoration:
underline;"
moz-do-not-send="true">projections</a>
suggesting that, by 2027,
total BRI spending will be
about $1.3 trillion. These
capital flows primarily
focus on long-term
investments in
infrastructure rather than
short-term bailouts,
although new studies suggest
that China has offered
short-term liquidity to
several countries. Between
2009 and 2020, the People’s
Bank of China <a
href="https://leftword.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6a79324d3b4acfde1e7e546c6&id=f60de75c48&e=d206d0a40d"
style="mso-line-height-rule: exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust:
100%;color:
#007C89;font-weight:
normal;text-decoration:
underline;"
moz-do-not-send="true">entered</a>
into bilateral currency swap
arrangements with at least
41 countries. These currency
swaps take place between the
local currency (the
Argentinian peso, for
instance) and China’s
renminbi (RMB), with the
local currency as collateral
and the RMB used either to
buy goods or to acquire
dollars. The combination of
BRI investments and RMB
currency swaps provide
countries with immediate
alternatives to the IMF and
its austerity demands. In
January 2022, Argentina’s
government asked China to
increase its
130-billion-yuan swap ($20.6
billion) by an additional 20
billion yuan ($3.14 billion)
to cover the IMF payment. A
few weeks later, the
People’s Bank of China <a
href="https://leftword.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6a79324d3b4acfde1e7e546c6&id=b3637a467f&e=d206d0a40d"
style="mso-line-height-rule: exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust:
100%;color:
#007C89;font-weight:
normal;text-decoration:
underline;"
moz-do-not-send="true">provided</a>
the necessary swap to
Argentina’s Central Bank.
Despite this infusion of
cash, Argentina still went
to the IMF.</p>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;">The
answer to why Argentina took
that decision can perhaps be
found in the <a
href="https://leftword.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6a79324d3b4acfde1e7e546c6&id=a22df4835f&e=d206d0a40d"
style="mso-line-height-rule: exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust:
100%;color:
#007C89;font-weight:
normal;text-decoration:
underline;"
moz-do-not-send="true">letter</a>
written by Martín Guzman
(minister of the economy)
and Miguel Pesce (president
of the Central Bank) to the
IMF’s Georgieva on 3 March
2022. In the communication,
Argentina promises to
‘improve public finances’
and to restrain inflation,
which are straightforward
orthodox positions. But then
there is an interesting
obligation: that Argentina
will expand exports and draw
in foreign direct investment
to ‘pave the way to an
eventual re-entry into
international capital
markets’. Rather than use
the opportunity afforded by
BRI-currency swaps to
develop its own national and
regional agenda, the
government seems eager to
use whatever platform
possible to return to the
status quo of integration
into the capitalist
marketplace for finance
dominated by Wall Street and
the City of London.</p>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;"><img
loading="lazy"
class="wp-image-58810
size-full img-responsive
mcRssImage"
src="https://thetricontinental.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/LaDeudaEsConElPueblo-.jpg"
alt=""
srcset="https://thetricontinental.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/LaDeudaEsConElPueblo-.jpg
950w,
https://thetricontinental.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/LaDeudaEsConElPueblo--300x300.jpg
300w,
https://thetricontinental.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/LaDeudaEsConElPueblo--150x150.jpg
150w,
https://thetricontinental.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/LaDeudaEsConElPueblo--768x767.jpg
768w" sizes="(max-width:
950px) 100vw, 950px"
style="max-width:
100%;width:
100%;padding-bottom:
0;display:
inline;vertical-align:
bottom;border: 0;height:
auto;outline:
none;text-decoration:
none;-ms-interpolation-mode:
bicubic;"
moz-do-not-send="true"
width="950" border="0"></p>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;">On
12 April 2022, the Committee
of Creditors of Internal
Debt (CADI) <a
href="https://leftword.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6a79324d3b4acfde1e7e546c6&id=7f5c5690d0&e=d206d0a40d"
style="mso-line-height-rule: exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust:
100%;color:
#007C89;font-weight:
normal;text-decoration:
underline;"
moz-do-not-send="true">announced</a>
that the people of Argentina
refuse to shoulder the
burden of the IMF debt. The
people should not pay a
single peso: those who
squirrelled away the
billions that Macri borrowed
from the IMF should be the
ones who pay the price.
Banking secrecy laws need to
be suspended in order to
draw up a list of those who
took that money and hid it
in tax havens. The hashtag
of CADI’s campaign is
#LaDeudaEsConElPueblo – the
debt is with the people. It
should be paid <i>to</i>
the people, not drawn from
them.</p>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;"><img
loading="lazy"
class="aligncenter
wp-image-58820 size-full
img-responsive mcRssImage"
src="https://thetricontinental.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/20220419_Juan-Gelman_IG-e1650474376796.jpg"
alt="" style="max-width:
100%;width:
100%;padding-bottom:
0;display:
inline;vertical-align:
bottom;border: 0;height:
auto;outline:
none;text-decoration:
none;-ms-interpolation-mode:
bicubic;"
moz-do-not-send="true"
width="950" border="0"></p>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;">As
the Argentinian poet Juan
Gelman (1930–2014) wrote
during the reign of the
military junta, these are
‘dark times, filled with
light’. This phrase
resonates even now:</p>
<p style="padding-left:
40px;margin: 10px 0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;">dark
times/filled with light/the
sun/<br>
pours sunlight onto the
city/ torn<br>
by sudden sirens/the police
on the hunt/night falls and
we/ make love under this
roof</p>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;">Gelman,
a communist, fought the
dictatorship, which killed
his son and daughter-in-law
and damaged the spine of his
country. Even the dark
times, he wrote, echoing
Brecht, are filled with
light. These are tough
moments in world history,
but even now there remain
possibilities, there remain
people gathered on the
streets of Buenos Aires and
Rosario, La Plata and
Córdoba. Their slogan is
clear: <i>no to the pact
with the IMF</i>. But
theirs is not only a
politics of ‘no’. It is also
a politics of ‘yes’. Yes to
taking advantage of the new
openings to shape an agenda
for the well-being of the
Argentinian people. Yes,
also yes.</p>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;">Warmly,</p>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;">Vijay</p>
<p style="margin: 10px
0;padding:
0;mso-line-height-rule:
exactly;-ms-text-size-adjust:
100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #202020;font-family:
Helvetica;font-size:
16px;line-height:
150%;text-align: left;"> </p>
</span> </td>
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