_ From: John Clancy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Castro angers Argentina with comments on economy BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (Reuters) -- Cuban leader Fidel Castro angered the Argentine government by saying its beleaguered economy had got a "stay of execution" from Washington but would soon "explode" anyway. The president of Communist-run Cuba told the left-leaning Argentine newspaper Pagina 12 that Argentina and other Latin American nations burdened with a total $950 billion in foreign debt "and unbelievable poverty" had "lost all independence." Citing U.S.-led aid packages dating back to the "Brady Plan" Latin American debt bailout of a decade ago to major aid packages from the International Monetary Fund in recent months for countries such Brazil and Argentina, he said: "Latin America is like those people on death row in the United States: They appeal and appeal and after 23 years go to the electric chair. You have been given a stay of execution; they have given you some pills, some bonds and other things."Now, with or without annexation, you are going to explode," Castro said. "The system will explode with annexation and so will neo-liberalism." His comments brought an immediate response from Argentine President Fernando de la Rua's spokesman, Juan Pablo Baylac, who told reporters: "Argentina is not going to explode."The Cuban leader, who offered his condolences for the recent attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon but has condemned the bombing of Afghanistan, said the "neo- liberal" or market economy was already in crisis before this violence."One favor the people who committed the attack in New York have done for imperialism is that they will now blame the sabotage for the failures of neo-liberalism," he said. "Because it was already finished, it was already in crisis...." Copyright 2001 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Find this article at: http://www.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/americas/10/10/argentina.cuba.reut/index. html Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ ***** from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subject: Frustration looms over Argentine Elections X-Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: "Walter Lippmann" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2001 Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [CubaNews] Frustration Looms Over Argentine Elections Voter Frustration Looms Over Argentine Elections By Anthony Faiola Washington Post Foreign Service Friday, October 12, 2001; Page A30 BUENOS AIRES, Oct. 11 -- Jittery foreign investors are losing faith in the ability of Argentine politicians to put this recession-plagued country back on track, and now those same politicians are facing another credibility problem -- with their own electorate. Argentines vote Sunday in key legislative elections, and opinion polls show the country's 25 million registered voters are harboring their deepest sense of disgust with politicians since democracy was restored in 1983. Angry over what many call the governing coalition's ineptitude in dealing with Argentina's economic crisis and petty bickering and corruption among all parties, one in four Buenos Aires voters said they will cast a blank or spoiled ballot. Nationwide, polls suggest the protest vote could reach 15 percent -- more than double the average in past elections. All 72 seats in the opposition Peronist-controlled Senate are being contested Sunday. Half -- or 127 seats -- in the lower house, now dominated by the governing center-left coalition are up for grabs. The Peronists are expected to post moderate gains, retaining control of the Senate, and perhaps gaining enough seats to win control of the lower house as well. Voting is compulsory. But one big winner, according to opinion polls, may be a write-in candidate, Clemente, a popular Argentine cartoon character who has no arms so that he cannot rob from the people. "I look at all the politician advertisements on television and all I hear are lies, lies and more lies," said Eduardo Gonzalez, 45, a Buenos Aires veterinarian. "I wish all of these politicians would just disappear." The sentiment here represents what analysts call a growing frustration among Latin Americans with their elected leaders. All countries in the region except Cuba now have democratically elected governments, yet in countries as diverse as Argentina, Peru, Brazil and Colombia, opinion polls show a sharp drop in public support for elected leaders. Even the once-stratospheric approval ratings for the region's most popular presidents -- Mexico's Vicente Fox and Venezuela's Hugo Chavez -- are beginning to erode. Analysts say the polls reflect not a rejection of democracy, but a profound disappointment with individual politicians at a time when the region seems locked in a pattern of economic downturns. Analysts said many Latin American leaders, especially in Argentina, have failed to deliver on promises for a better future and have often dramatically changed their platforms after winning office. "No one wants a return to the [military governments] of the past," said Marita Carballo, president of the polling firm Gallup Argentina. "This is not a rejection of democracy; this is a sign of displeasure with the politicians who have emerged thus far." Nowhere is that more true than in Argentina, where a deepening political crisis is partly to blame for a worsening three- year recession that analysts said has increased the risk of a currency devaluation and debt default. President Fernando de la Rua was elected in 1999 on a center-left platform, but his indecision, multiple cabinet changes and seeming inability to deal with the recession has sent his public approval ratings plummeting to around 20 percent. Today he heads a coalition that has all but fallen apart, lurching from one crisis to another without any overall strategy. Candidates from the Front for a Country in Solidarity, or FREPASO Party, which made up the left-wing of his Alliance coalition, have largely withdrawn their support for de la Rua. Leading members of the president's own, more moderate Radical Civic Union have also turned against him. They have criticized de la Rua for sticking by Domingo Cavallo, his controversial economy minister who helped secure an $8 billion rescue package for Argentina from the International Monetary Fund in August. Many Argentines object to some provisions in Cavallo's "zero deficit" budget plan, which was essential to obtaining the loans. It imposed deep cuts in pensions and government salaries to avoid a default on Argentina's $132 billion debt. Critics say that Cavallo, a Harvard- trained economist who devised Argentina's opening to a free market economy in the 1990s under former President Carlos Menem, has yet to come up with a viable plan to jump-start the economy. © 2001 The Washington Post Company _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe mails to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________
