Protests against neoliberalism, IMF in Brazil, Colombia

[Robert Weissman <rob@essential.org>]

          WEEKLY NEWS UPDATE ON THE AMERICAS
             ISSUE #500, AUGUST 29, 1999
  NICARAGUA SOLIDARITY NETWORK OF GREATER NEW YORK
339 LAFAYETTE ST., NEW YORK, NY 10012 (212) 674-9499

[Only the following two excerpts included:]

1. 100,000 Protest Brazil Austerity
2. Colombian Unions Call Strike for Debt Moratorium

*1. 100,000 PROTEST BRAZIL AUSTERITY

Over 100,000 people from all over Brazil marched in Brasilia on
Aug. 26 in the biggest protest ever against President Fernando
Henrique Cardoso's economic policies. [Reuters 8/27/99] "If
Cardoso resigns, it would be a gracious gesture," Luis Inacio
Lula da Silva, honorary president of the leftist Workers Party
(PT), told the protesters at the end of the "March of 100,000,"
"but Cardoso has no grace."
 
According to Lula, the opposition is calling for a program "to
construct an industrial policy, to carry out land reform, create
financing for small- and medium-sized farmers, channel public
resources to help small- and medium-businesses, end illiteracy,
stop the privatization of public universities and not let them
privatize the Federal Savings Bank, the Bank of Brazil, Petrobras
[the state oil company] and the post office." [Publicacao Diaria
da Lideranca do PT na Camara dos Deputados #1899, 8/27/99, on PT
website <http://www.pt.org.br>] The protesters also presented the
Chamber of Deputies with a petition which they said had 1.3
million signatures demanding an investigation into last year's
privatization of the telecommunications company Telebras, which
has led to widespread chaos in the phone system and allegations
of massive corruption [see Update #487]. [Brazil Financial Wire
8/27/99]
 
"We see no future with Cardoso. The poor are going through sharp
pain because of his policies," marcher Flavio Ramos told a
reporter. As a public hospital nurse, Ramos earns $155 a month on
which he supports three children and his ex-wife. He hasn't had a
raise in five years. [Associated Press 8/27/99]
 
The police at first estimated that only 60,000 marchers had
turned out, but police agents said later that the crowd may have
reached 100,000. According to Jose Zunga, president of the Only
Workers Central (CUT) Federal District section, Brasilia police
privately put the crowd at about 120,000, but the government
decided not to pass the information on to the press. [AP 8/27/99;
PT 8/27/99] Many of the protesters were delayed when some of the
10,000 police mobilized for the protest detained some 200
busloads of protesters on the city's outskirts to conduct
searches. A number of marchers left their buses and went into the
march site on foot. [Agence France Presse 8/26/99]
 
The protest was sponsored by the five main leftist opposition
parties--the PT, the Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB), the
Democratic Workers Party (PDT), the Brazilian Communist Party
(PCB) and the Communist Party of Brazil (PCdoB)--along with about
80 other organizations of "civil society," including the CUT, the
Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST), and student groups.
Organizers said that the March of 100,000 was just the beginning
of a series of protests by unions, students and the poor,
including a "Day of the Excluded" demonstration on Sept. 7; a
strike of metal workers on Sept. 14; an Oct. 3 March in Defense
of Education; and an international labor conference in Rio de
Janeiro Dec. 1-3 on combating neoliberalism. [PT 8/27/99]
 
The marchers in Brasilia on Aug. 26 also protested the Aug. 19
acquittal of three police officers charged with the murder of 19
peasants at a protest in 1996 in the northern state of Para [see
Update #499]. The decision shocked millions; the massacre was
recorded by news crews on film clearly showing police agents
firing repeatedly into the crowd at close range. Prosecutors
charged that some jurors were bribed by the police. The MST
issued a statement calling the decision "a great shame for
Brazilian people. The message to the world is that Brazil doesn't
respect human rights. Our police can kill, they can wound, and
they never get punished." [Washington Post 8/26/99]
 
In a separate demonstration, a group of farmers continued to camp
out in the capital to pressure Congress to approve a package to
write off at least $9.2 billion in debt [see Update #499].
[Financial Times (London) 8/26/99]
 
*2. COLOMBIAN UNIONS CALL STRIKE FOR DEBT MORATORIUM

On Aug. 26 the majority of Colombia's public sector labor
federations and a number of private sector unions agreed to go
ahead with plans for an open-ended national civic strike to start
on Aug. 31 against the government's general economic policy. The
unions have 41 demands, including a moratorium in the payment of
public external debt, a change of the neoliberal economic model,
and a suspension of negotiations the government is holding with
the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a $3 billion credit. 
 
Colombia's current recession is its worst in 70 years; more than 
70 major companies and 3,600 small businesses failed in the first
seven months of 1999. The gross domestic product (GDP) grew by
just 0.6% in 1998 and is likely to fall by between 0.5% and 1.0%
this year. Meanwhile, unemployment has soared to almost 20%.
Colombia owes some $17 billion to foreign creditors, and experts
estimate that the government paid more than $2 billion last year
to meet its foreign debt obligations. Luis Eduardo Garzon,
president of the Unitary Workers Federation (CUT), told the
Agence France Presse news service: "We are demanding that the
government declare a moratorium because the debt payments consume
36% of our national budget." The unions also say that any
agreement with the IMF will result in an austerity program that
will further hurt workers.
 
Among private sector unions, the strike is being sponsored by
unions in the CUT, the General Confederation of Democratic
Workers (CGTD) [misidentified in Update #452 as "DGTD"] and the
Colombian Workers Confederation (CTC); bank workers unions are
especially strong supporters of the job action. Transportation
companies in Bogota and other cities have said they would observe
the strike; the success of strikes in Colombia has frequently
depended on the suspension of transportation services. Leftist
guerrilla organizations have called for an "armed strike"
starting on Aug. 31 and have forbidden vehicles to use the
highways. Authorities say strike supporters--probably urban
commandos of a guerrilla group--are responsible for eight small
bombs that exploded the night of Aug. 26-27 in banking offices in
Bogota, causing some damage but no injuries. [El Tiempo (Bogota)
8/27/99; AFP 8/24/99; Associated Press 8/27/99] Colombians and
others are calling for strike support demonstrations on Aug. 31
outside Colombian consulates in Chicago and Montreal. [Comite de
Solidaridad con Colombia (Chicago) press release, undated;
Coalicion por los Derechos Humanos en Colombia (Montreal)
announcement 8/22/99, from Agencia de Noticias Nueva Colombia]
 
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