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President Chavez explains why Venezuela is canceling Haiti's debt for petroleum. |
Editor's Note: On Monday, January 25, President Chavez announced that Venezuela is doing the right thing: canceling Haiti's debt to Venezuela.
"Haiti has no debt with Venezuela, just the opposite: Venezuela has a historical debt with that nation, with that people for whom we feel not pity but rather admiration, and we share their faith, their hope."
- Hugo Chavez Frias
On Tuesday, January 26, The Paris Club of creditor nations urged all of Haiti's lenders to also cancel the nation's debt. Oxfam Canada has also published a call for letters to be sent, demanding that the IMF cancel Haiti's debt to the International Monetary Fund:
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Urgent Appeal for Haiti We can Help haiti today and tomorrow The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said that it will work to cancel Haiti’s debt, and this now needs to happen. They have also offered a $100 million loan to Haiti but this should be converted into a grant. The head of the IMF, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, has subsequently said that they will turn this loan into a grant but we need to make sure that he does everything that he can to make this happen. If these debts aren't cancelled, Haiti will be sending tens of millions to the IMF and other international bodies even as it struggles to rebuild after the devestating earthquake of January 12, 2010. Tell the world leaders gathering in Montreal on Monday to discuss Haiti’s future that Haitian civil society needs to play a lead role in the future of their country. Planning and accountability for good governance, peace, essential services, and food security need the critical involvement of women, men and the millions of young people of Haiti. Email the head of the IMF Dominique Strauss-Kahn and Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon to demand that when leaders meet on Monday they cancel Haiti's debts immediately and let Haitians define their future. Make sure that earthquake relief doesn't create a new debt burden nor cut Haitians out. Use the form below to send this message to the IMF calling for immediate cancelation of Haiti's debt. |
While Washington is occupying Haiti militarily for exploitation of its natural resources, cheap labor and to advance it's aggressive agenda in Latin America, other creditor nations are forgiving Haiti's debt. Please take a few minutes to follow through by sending your letter, demanding that the IMF release Haiti from its unjust economic burden. Also, do what you can to demand the United States remove its occupying military forces.
- Axis of Logic Editorial Board
President Chavez writes off Haiti's oil debt to Venezuela
CARACAS – President Hugo Chavez announced Monday that he would write off the undisclosed sum Haiti owes Venezuela for oil as part of the ALBA bloc’s plans to help the impoverished Caribbean nation after the devastating Jan. 12 earthquake.
“Haiti has no debt with Venezuela, just the opposite: Venezuela has a historical debt with that nation, with that people for whom we feel not pity but rather admiration, and we share their faith, their hope,” Chavez said after the extraordinary meeting of foreign ministers of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas, or ALBA.
He also announced that ALBA has decided on a comprehensive plan that includes an immediate donation of $20 million to Haiti’s health sector, and a fund that, Chavez said, will be at least $100 million “for starters.”
Oil-rich Venezuela is the economic heart of ALBA, which also includes Cuba, Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Haiti is among several countries that send observers to ALBA meetings.
Chavez said one part of ALBA assistance to Haiti would consist of fuel distribution via “mobile service stations” set to be up and running within a few weeks.
The ALBA plan of aid for Haiti includes support for such sectors as agriculture, production, food imports and distribution, and immigration amnesty for Haitians living illegally in the bloc’s member-states.
Cuba and Venezuela sent assistance and aid workers to Haiti within days of the magnitude-7.0 temblor that left an estimated 200,000 dead and 1.5 million people homeless.
The leftist Venezuelan leader also noted that there are some celebrities who want to work with ALBA, among whom he named actor Sean Penn, who, he said, called him because the members of a team of U.S. doctors now in Haiti want to “coordinate” their activities. EFE