Cancel Bolivia's debt
From April 4-6, the InterAmerican Development Bank (IDB), the regional development bank for Latin America, will hold its annual meeting in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Bolivia along with three other Latin American countries whose debts were cancelled by world leaders this summer continue to pay millions to the IDB each year instead of on health and education. Other nations like Haiti, Peru, and Ecuador with extreme poverty also require debt cancellation.
In 2004 Bolivia paid out over US$800mn in debt service payments – on both domestic and external debt – while during the same year it was able to invest only US$750mn on the pro-poor expenditures of health and education COMBINED.
IADB represents 33% of Bolivia's overall debt. Now is a vital time for putting pressure on the IADB to deliver 100% cancellation to Bolivia and other poorest nations.
Take action by writing to the Head of the IADB, Luis Alberto Moreno (pic@iadb.org) and/or the US Secretary for the Treasury John Snow (john.snow@do.treas.gov) using the text from below as a basis. If you live in Bolivia, include a paragraph of the effect of diverting resources from health and education from your own experience.
Get educated:
- Jubilee USA factsheet on Cancelling Latin America's Debt (.pdf) [en español]
- Read up on Bolivia's debt situation
- Joint report including Fundación Jubileo: Justice for Latin America on IDB Debts (.pdf) [en español]
|
Dear _________ Last July, world leaders with the support of the Bush administration promised to cancel completely the debts of up to 38 of the world's most impoverished countries. This marked an important step towards conclusively addressing the debt crisis. However, the G-8 did not adequately address the debt crisis in Latin America when they met last summer. While they promised $4.5 billion of debt stock cancellation to Nicaragua, Honduras, Bolivia, and Guyana from the World Bank and IMF, they ignored the fact that these same countries owe $5 billion to the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). I am writing to urge you to enact the definitive cancellation of all debts in Latin America and the Caribbean which impede human development and progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). As a first step towards this, I urge you to work for the immediate and total cancellation of the debts held by Bolivia, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras and Nicaragua to the IDB. Debt cancellation should be enacted without economic conditions - and urgently - as delays to debt cancellation cost lives. Moreover, to avoid future debt crises we call for a move away from new loans to grants. In recognizing the illegitimate and odious nature of some IDB lending, I also ask that you work towards the establishment of a just process to identify and cancel such odious and illegitimate debts. As long as impoverished countries in the region must make debt service payments to the IDB, they will be unable to achieve the MDGs and begin to reverse the stark conditions of poverty faced by their citizens. Sincerely, |
Goni case - next steps
