IMF Conditions Emergency COVID-19 Loan to Venezuela on Regime Change
The IMF refused a COVID–19 emergency loan to Venezuela unless it agreed to
overthrow President Maduro and installs the Washington-backed Juan Guaidó.
by Alan Macleod
March 30th, 2020
By Alan Macleod
Earlier this month, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) blocked a request
from Venezuela for an emergency loan to deal with the COVID–19 pandemic on the
grounds that President Nicolas Maduro “lacked recognition.” “IMF engagement
with member countries is predicated on official government recognition by the
international community, as reflected in the IMF’s membership. There is no
clarity on recognition at this time,” a spokesperson for the international
banking organization said. In fact, around 150 countries recognize Maduro,
including the vast majority of UN member states. Indeed, the UN itself has
endorsed him, even placing Venezuela on the Human Rights Council. Crucially,
however, the United States government has not.
Nevertheless, “help” might be on the way. That is if U.S.-backed self-declared
president Juan Guaidó is to be believed. Yesterday he announced that he had
secured a $1.2 billion dollar loan from the organization on one condition: that
Maduro steps down and allows what he calls an “emergency government” to take
control of the country. Guaidó was recently given a column in The Economist
magazine.
Alan MacLeod
@AlanRMacLeod
The IMF is refusing to give Venezuela a loan to buy medical eqipment to fight
#COVID19 unless it overthrows its government and installs their preferred
candidate.
What a time to be alive.
https://twitter.com/APjoshgoodman/status/1244070617294475265 …
Joshua Goodman
✔
@APjoshgoodman
CORRECTION: Guaido says emergency loan would be for $1.2 billion, not $200
million. He says he has carried out consultations with international financial
institutions and is certain a loan would be approved if his proposal is
accepted https://twitter.com/APjoshgoodman/status/1244069568546553857 …
1,578
4:25 AM - Mar 29, 2020
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Guaidó’s pronouncement comes amid the news of a former military general, Cilver
Alcala, confessing to organizing a military coup with Guaidó. Alcala has placed
himself under the protection of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.
The Venezuelan government, meanwhile, has been more preoccupied with its
response to COVID–19. The country has a relatively small 119 confirmed cases,
with three deaths reported so far. Even before any reported cases, Maduro
declared a health emergency, canceling many foreign flights and prohibiting
crowds. On the day of the first positive case, public buildings like schools,
theaters, and restaurants were shuttered, and wearing a mask in certain
locations became mandatory. The government organized a huge online database and
website, where any person worrying they were showing symptoms could inform
authorities. Over 20,000 sick people were visited in their homes by medical
professionals. This was made possible by Venezuela’s Cuban-built nationalized
healthcare system. Thousands of Venezuelans in the U.S., between 92 and 99
percent of whom voted against Maduro in the 2013 elections, are flocking back
to their country of birth in the knowledge that his response has been far more
reassuring than Trump’s.
Media Presents Anger and Jeers Against Juan Guaido as Hometown Hero's Welcome
Upon his return to Venezuela, Juan Guaido was greeted by a jeering and enraged
mob but the media panted it as a hero's welcome.
MintPress News | Alan Macleod | Feb 12
Although under punishing U.S. sanctions that American UN Special Rapporteur
Alfred de Zayas estimates have killed over 100,000 people, the country has
nevertheless been showered with help from its allies. Cuba, for example, has
sent 130 more doctors and 10,000 doses of lifesaving Interferon Alpha 2b, an
antiviral known to help combat the virus. And this weekend a huge shipment of
Chinese supplies, including over 500,000 test kits, 5 million facemasks, and
70,000 infrared thermometers, arrived in Venezuela.
Nevertheless, the economy is still in dire straits and has been for many years,
not least because of sanctions and a refusal from the international finance
industry to cooperate. The IMF headquarters are located in central Washington,
D.C., barely a stone’s throw away from the White House. The physical distance
between the two buildings is reflective of how closely the IMF and the U.S.
government work together. Indeed, the United States holds unique veto power
over the organization. All significant IMF actions require at least 85 percent
agreement. But the U.S. holds 17.5 percent of the votes. Critics of the
organization, like Martin Honeywell, Andre Gunder Frank and Michel
Chossudovsky, claim that its job is to carry out the financial interests of
Washington by keeping developing countries poor, controlling them through
“financial terrorism”; plying countries with huge, usurious loans on the
proviso that they privatize their assets, thus sinking their economies and
making it impossible for them to accrue enough wealth to ever pay it back. An
example of this was Ecuador, who, by 2005, was forced to spend 47 percent of
its entire income paying back enormous interest on loans. This ensured that
countries in the Global South could not take an independent, progressive path.
The IMF worked closely with the U.S. government in 2002 in briefly overthrowing
Maduro’s successor, Hugo Chavez. Just hours after what appeared to be a
successful coup, its Director of External Relations said they were willing to
give new dictator Pedro Carmona unlimited funds: “we stand ready to assist the
new administration in whatever manner they find suitable,” he said. Carmona was
deposed the next day.
Maduro, Chavez’s handpicked successor came to power in 2013 and was re-elected
in 2018 in some of the most intensely internationally monitored elections in
world history. Despite the unanimous positive feedback from monitors, the U.S.
government preemptively refused to recognize the results, eventually declaring
Juan Guaidó, head of a small, far-right opposition party, the legitimate ruler
of the country. Guaidó has attempted to seize power by force a number of times
but has not been successful. A December poll found him to have a 10 percent
approval rating and a 69 percent disapproval rating.
