BBC (August 31): IMF director to visit Argentina

[Jack Rabbit]

From the BBC Online
Dated Tuesday August 31 10:05 GMT (3:05 am PDT)

IMF director to visit Argentina

Rodrigo Rato, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, is due in Buenos Aires on Tuesday for talks on Argentina's financial situation.

Mr Rato is expected to discuss Argentina's stop-start progress towards paying off its hefty debts.

He is scheduled to meet Argentine president Nestor Kirchner, as well as finance minister Roberto Lavagna.

But analysts say the talks are aimed primarily at improving the IMF's relationship with Buenos Aries.

Read more.

Maybe they could send the Buenos Aires dog catcher out to receive any message he has to deliver.

[bemildred]

1. I certainly hope he has good bodyguards.

Argentina's Kirchner Rebuffs Investor Demands to Quell Violence

ug. 27 (Bloomberg) -- When more than 200
telephone-union workers forced their way into
Telefonica SA's call center in Buenos Aires on
Aug. 9, manager Humberto Pato Vinuesa stopped
work and sent the 1,700 employees home.

Local police didn't respond to requests to oust the
intruders, who stayed for 30 hours, says Pato
Vinuesa, 38.

``The police had no interest in dealing with the
problem,'' he says. The two-day shutdown cost
Atento SA, a unit of Madrid- based Telefonica,
$100,000 in lost revenue and may lead the company
to cancel plans to hire 650 new employees,
according to Pato Vinuesa.

Argentine President Nestor Kirchner, 54, says he
won't use police to control demonstrations that clog
the capital's streets most weekdays or order them
to employ force to quell violent protests against
international companies such as McDonald's Corp.
and Repsol-YPF SA. The violence is deterring
investment in Latin America's third-largest
economy, says Boris Segura, a fund manager at
Standish Mellon Asset Management in Boston.

http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000085&sid=aAHalJazXC9E&refer=europe

[Lithos]

2. Hmmm

After what the IMF did to Argentina, I can only imagine how this trip will go.

L-

[Jack Rabbit]

3. BBC (Later on August 31): Protests at IMF Argentina talks

From the BBC Online
Dated Tuesday August 31 22:52 GMT (3:52 pm PDT)

Protests at IMF Argentina talks

Protesters have clashed with police in Buenos Aires as Rodrigo Rato, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, talked with government leaders.

Mr Rato was meeting Argentine President Nestor Kirchner, as well as Finance Minister Roberto Lavagna . . . .

As the pair talked dozens of people were arrested for throwing rocks and sticks, and four policemen were injured.

Many in Argentina blame the IMF for their country's economic collapse in 2001 and 2002.

Read more.

Neoconservatism is the military department of neoliberalism.
-- Granny D.