[stop-imf] Thousands protest IMF-inspired reforms in Honduras

[Robert Weissman]

>Thousands protest IMF-inspired reforms in Honduras
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>TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras, Aug 26 (Reuters) - Thousands of Hondurans burned
>tires and blocked highways leading to the country's capital on Tuesday,
>protesting economic reforms the government hopes will impress the
>International Monetary Fund.
>
>Some 12,000 protesters from a group calling itself the Popular Resistance
>Movement blocked entrances to Tegucigalpa and waved banners proclaiming "No
>to the IMF."
>
>Honduras' Congress last week passed a law allowing private companies to buy
>concessions in the state water sector and is planning a law to regulate the
>salaries of some 100,000 public sector employees in the poor Central
>American nation.
>
>"This is a protest against President Ricardo Maduro's economic policy, aimed
>only at pleasing international credit organizations," protest leader Carlos
>Reyes told Reuters.
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>Maduro hopes the measures will persuade the IMF to go ahead with a new
>credit line for Honduras that has been on hold since November.
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>Eighty percent of Honduras' 6.5 million people lives in poverty.