[stop-imf] Castro Calls for Abolition of IMF (fwd)

[Robert Weissman]

Castro Calls for Abolition of IMF
Wednesday April 12 1:41 PM ET

By JOHN RICE, Associated Press Writer
HAVANA (AP) - Fidel Castro used his opening remarks at a summit of the
world's poor nations today to blame the global capitalist system for
creating a holocaust of death in poor countries.
``The images we see of mothers and children in whole regions of Africa under
the lash of drought and other catastrophes remind us of the concentration
camps of Nazi Germany,'' the Cuban president said.
He spoke before at least 40 heads of state or government at the first summit
in the 36-year history of the so-called Group of 77, which has swelled to a
gathering of 133 developing nations.
Castro also called for the elimination of the International Monetary Fund,
accusing it of spreading poverty around the world.
``We lack a Nuremberg to judge the economic order imposed upon us, where
every three years more men, women and children die of hunger and preventable
diseases than died in the Second World War,'' Castro said.

Castro's complaints of inequality - if not his comparisons - were echoed by
others, who called for more aid, fewer debts and a greater role in
international decision-making.
``I am confident that this summit will be a milestone in our quest for
development,'' said Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo as he opened the
gathering.
Draft resolutions prepared by foreign ministers urged ``the establishment of
a more just and fair international economic system.''
``To those already enjoying them, the benefits of globalization are clear:
faster economic growth, higher living standards, the rapid spread of new
technology and modern management skills,'' U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan
said Tuesday in a speech at the University of Havana.
But, he said, ``Many millions of people are excluded, left behind in squalor
not because they have been exposed to too much globalization but because
they have had too little or none at all.''
Among the leaders joining Annan are South African President Thabo Mbeki,
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, Indonesian President Abdurrahman
Wahid, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, and Palestinian leader Yasser
Arafat.
The wide-ranging draft proposals call for a sort of new world order that
would share technological advances, increase aid and investment, forgive
debts and put poor countries on a more equal footing with rich ones in
determining how aid is used.
Nigeria's Obasanjo, whose country chairs the G-77, told a news conference
Tuesday that poor countries need more resources to promote democracy and
stability.
In Nigeria, where his elected government replaced a military dictatorship
last year, ``we have just established a new dispensation, a democratic
situation where we want to do everything right,'' he said.
Obasanjo said that if he goes to villagers and tells them, ``I wanted to
give you water but I have to pay debts ... even though the origin of these
debts are dubious, and therefore I will not be able to give you water ...
they will say 'get away with your new dispensation''' of democracy.
But he ruled out a ``Havana Club of debtors'' that would unite to suspend
debt payments, saying it would interfere with aid transfers that some
nations depend upon for part of their domestic budgets.
The draft documents call for giving poor countries a greater voice in
development decisions by encouraging the United Nations to take a bigger
role in economic aid, rather than channeling it through organizations
controlled by rich nations.
They also suggest easing patent restrictions that keep poor nations from
benefiting from new technologies and setting up mechanisms to share
inventions.
The drafts urged preferential trade concessions for poorer nations and freer
movement of labor to match recent liberalization of capital flows.
``Our peoples have run out of patience,'' Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe
Perez Roque told a meeting of foreign ministers Tuesday. ``For decades they
have suffered broken promises and are today living in an economic and social
situation that is increasingly serious and unsustainable.''