Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez terms IMF demands the "road to hell"

["Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Chavez's strongest criticism of the international financial institutions
that U.S. capital uses to squeeze Latin America took place seven days after
a conference of popular organizations in Caracas, which prepared a
counteroffensive to the rightist campaign to set the stage for a military
coup with a reactionary mobilization and "strike" October 10.  The
conference labelled the debt illegitimate and called for spending the money
earmarked for debt service on the needs of the people. The fol,lowing
article from Britain's Morning Star was forwarded to CubaNews by D OC.
Fred Feldman

From: "D OC" <donaloc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "'Walter Lippmann'" <walterlx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, October 09, 2002 9:01 AM
Subject: Re: Today's Morning Star

This is the whole article (I've stuck to their
grammar throughout): (Morning Star, UK)
==================================

Chavez defies IMF demands
President rejects 'road to hell'
By Our Foreign Desk

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on
Monday night that his country will not accept
policy recipes dictated by international financial
bodies such as the IMF, even if they shut off funds.

"The major international financial organisations
don't want to give Venezuela a cent because
Venezuela doesn't want to accept impositions,"
Mr. Chavez said at Macaray, West of Caracas.

"We are not going to accept them even if they
don't give us a cent. We'll see how we get out
of this situation," he told workers at a textile plant.

Venezuela's top economic ministers travelled
to the United States last month to try to raise
fresh funds to help cover an estimated $4 billion
in financing needed this year.

But Planning Minister Felipe Perez and Finance
Minister Tobias Nobrega received a cool reception,
as officials from the IMF, the World Bank and other
lenders closely questioned the Venezuelan
government's economic performance.

Venezuela, which earns hefty annual income from
its oil exports but is experiencing a sharp recession,
has not sought funds from the IMF but is seeking
loans from the World Bank, the Inter-American
Development Bank and other lenders.

Obtaining such loans has been made all the more
difficult by a critical IMF evaluation of Venezuela's
current situation, Government sources said.

Mr Chavez said that, according to the IMF,
"Venezuela doesn't qualify to receive credit, but,
on the day of the coup, there was a statement
from the International Monetary Fund that they
were ready to give Venezuela whatever it needed,"
he added bitterly.

The president, who has frequently condemned
"neoliberal" globalised free-market capitalism as
"the road to hell", said that Venezuela would not
take orders from any centre of power.

"Only from one, the Venezuelan people," he said.

He has accused right-wing political foes of planning
a new coup attempt against him and has launched
a security offensive against suspected plotters.

"Some of them are trying to call a strike as an
excuse for a coup, but we will defeat them," he said.


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