World Bank President Not Welcomed In Guatemala

World Bank President Not Welcomed in Guatemala

Sources: La Jornada, Prensa Latina

28th April 2006

http://www.radiomundoreal.fm

Social organizations from Guatemala are preparing a series of demonstrations today to reject the visit of the president of the World Bank Paul Wolfowitz, to the country. The National Coordinator of Peasant Organizations and the ecologist group MadreSelva, are the main organizers of the protest. They claim that the intention of Wolfowitz’s visit to the country is to “promote mining exploitation”.

Wolofowitz arrived in Guatemala this morning, and said that one of the “worst problems” of the country is the “deep-seated” inequality. The president of the international financial agency said he will visit native communities in the center of the country, and that he plans to meet with president Oscar Berger and with government officials.

Wolfowitz, a neoconservative, has been booed in all his recent public appearances. One of the main arguments against him is related with his role in the military strategy that led to the US invasion to Iraq. The president of the World Bank is a former US official, and one of the closest associates of republican president George W. Bush.

Despite the rejection sparked by his visits, Wolfowitz does not seem to learn: yesterday during the most recent conference he gave in Mexico he said that the country’s main problems: migration, violence and unemployment, are not the responsibility of the international agencies. He said that the Mexican crisis “is more related with investment and competitiveness than with the recommendations of the Washington Consensus, and of the multilateral agencies”.