NYT letter: forgive all debt

[Robert Weissman <rob@essential.org>]

New York Times
Letters to the editor
March 15, 1999

Forgive All Debt

To the editor:

Re "Peace and Poverty in Central America" (editorial, March 11): For
countries
like Nicaragua and Honduras, Hurricane Mitch only illuminated an already
dismal economic situation.

As you note, Nicaragua pays 11 times more in debt service than it spends
on
health care each year.

There is no choice.

The United States should cancel debts owed to it by Nicaragua and Honduras
as
well as call for the cancellation of debts owed by them to institutions
like
the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the Inter-American
Development Bank.

Only then will these Central American countries have the means to rebuild
their infrastructures and try to construct  sustainable economies.

              KRIS HERMES
              Nashville, March 11, 1999