Swindling the Sick: The IMF Debt Relief Sham
As 2005 holiday celebrations were getting underway last December, the International Monetary Fund pledged a gift to Nicaragua: complete cancellation of the $201 million debt that Nicaragua owed the multilateral financial institution. Many have applauded this move, part of the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative, as a needed step towards unshackling historically debt-ridden countries like Nicaragua. In early January I told a group of US citizens visiting Managua that this event may signify an achievement in Nicaragua’s long struggle for self-determination, giving us something, finally, to celebrate. Considering recent moves by the IMF, it appears I was wrong.
The mood in Managua lately has been anything but celebratory. Yesterday, my neighbor Blanca Obando came to my door, said hello, and burst into tears. Through her sobs, she related how her diabetic sister-in-law, Reina Landeros Poveda, had recently cut her foot and developed a painful skin infection. Soon thereafter, Blanca escorted her sister-in-law to the Lenin Fonseca public hospital. Outside the hospital entrance, they found throngs of infected and suffering people who were lying on the curbs “like dogs,” vomiting in the street, and urinating where they could as they awaited nonexistent medical attention. “It was the worst thing I’ve seen in Nicaragua,” Blanca cried. Such words should not be taken lightly from someone who’s seen her country dominated by a US-backed dictator, crushed by a US-funded contra war, and strangled by a US-imposed economic embargo. Edging through the crowd, Blanca and Reina reached the hospital gates and found them locked shut. Hospital staff turned the women back to the street, informing Reina that she could not enter unless she had been shot, run over, or could otherwise show she was on the brink of death.
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