The
Bank of the South represents an alternative to the World Bank and the
U.S. policies, the President of the Committee for the Abolition of the
Third World Debt (CADTM Spanish acronym), Eric Toussaint said.
This statement was announced by Toussaint
during the book baptism: World Bank. The Permanent Coup d’état. The
hidden agenda of Washington’s Consensus, held in Miranda
International National Center, in Caracas.
The
Specialist in Political Sciences stated that the World Bank is an
instrument for the foreign policy of the U.S. administration.
“When
the U.S. wants to support the allied governments, it requests the
granting of credits from the WB in order to finance projects. But, when
they want to destabilize a government leading a progressing,
nationalist or regional integration policy, they influence the WB in
order to take away the financial support,” the researcher said.
The WB becomes rich by getting the countries which it grants credits
into debts,” he added.
“This
is the reason why it is important to create the Bank of the South as an
alternative for South American countries in order to avoid demanding
credits to the WB,” he said.
Mr. Toussaint said the Bank of
the South would use the internal savings of Latin American countries to
support social projects that generate employments, “without applying
Washington’s policies.”
The WB intends to impose
economic-opening policies which increase the dependence of the
countries that request credits from industrialized nations.
He
recalled that Venezuela proposed the idea of creating a bank in the
south, followed by Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador, Uruguay,
Guyana, Surinam and Paraguay, which are already part of the Bank of the
South.”
In this regard, he mentioned that there are
presidential, ministerial and technical meetings in order to
consolidate the Bank of the South, which will use part of the reserves
of the member countries.
The purpose is to grant credits for
social priority projects aimed at improving education in the region as
well as the production of low-priced medicines. These projects will
also guarantee the Latin American integration and the improving of
conditions of life of our peoples.
Mr. Toussaint highlights
that one of the thesis of his aforementioned book is based on political
criteria and not on the economic aspect.
He pointed out that
the World Bank contributed to the International Monetary Found in order
to destabilize Latin American progressive governments such as the
Chilean with Salvador Allende.
“When those governments were
overthrown by military dictatorships, the WB together with the IMF
supported those dictatorships” he emphasized.
Erick Toussaint
is PhD in Political Science of the University of Paris VIII; President
of the Committee for the Abolition of the Third World Debt and member
of the International Council of the World Social Forum (WSF).
He is also collaborator of Le Monde Diplomatique and author of
the book: 50 Questions and 50 Answers about the Debt and The
Stock or Life: The Finance Against the Peoples.