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| Central American University - UCA |
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Number 219 | Octubre 1999 |
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Nicaragua
NICARAGUA BRIEFS
Nitlápan-Envío team
A PARDON IN ONE HAND, A WARNING IN THE OTHER
During the Annual IMF-World Bank Assembly on September 29, President Bill Clinton pledged to get his government to pardon 100% of the debt owed to the United States by the world's 41 poorest countries. He also exhorted other wealthy countries to follow suit rather than only pardon the 80% contemplated in the HIPC Initiative. Clinton's proposed write-off would cost the United States barely a billion dollars. Nicaragua, Honduras and Bolivia are the three Latin American countries that will benefit from Clinton's gesture. After successive debt write-offs by the United States over the course of this decade, Nicaragua only owes it about $10 million right now.
In Nicaragua, meanwhile, the new US ambassador, Oliver Garza, pledged in his first press conference two days before Clinton's announcement that one of the focal points of his work will be the fight against corruption. “All nations that have provided aid to this government are interested in receiving commitments from it on the corruption issue,” he said. “I am going to work with the government, we are going to provide help, we'll offer advice when they ask it of us and we will draw the government's attention in private to any problems that we notice.
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a monthly magazine of analysis on Central America