Word: colombia
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Three years of mismanagement by an increasingly corrupt military dictatorship has brought the Republic of Colombia to the brink of economic chaos. Despite good coffee prices and a bumper crop, Colombia is in debt by over 350 million dollars, more than its entire income from coffee exports for the first eight months of 1956. Her currency has depreciated, her credit has been seriously damaged, and her foreign exchange reserves reduced to a dangerously low level...
...Colombia's plight becomes all the more surprising when we remember that only three years ago, Colombians were hopeful that the newly established Rojas government would create a stable democracy which would finally enable the country to develop its vast natural resources. They hailed Rojas' ouster of arch-conservative President Laureano Gomez, who had fought to retain power despite lack of popular support, and supported his attempts to end the six-year-old civil war that was ravaging the thinly populated western plains. Immediately after seizing power, Rojas removed restraints on the press, and promised free elections and restoration...
...Rojas would resist the temptation to set himself up as military dictator, however, the President soon decided not to surrender his newly won power. The "state of seige" he had declared upon taking office was continued indefinitely. Free elections were postponed until the country had become "politically civilized," despite Colombia's 36 years under a working democracy prior...
...controls failed; the cutbacks on luxuries were offset by increases in essentials. The bank fell behind in supplying dollars. Exporters abroad, fearful of losing a fine long-range market, shrugged at their uncollected bills and continued to ship. Colombia's gold and foreign-exchange reserves began to fall...
Missing Millions. As nearly as worried U.S. exporters could piece together the increasingly vague official figures, the amount of imports moved closer to the amount of exports. But Colombia's reserves, ominously, did not reflect the improvement; instead they dropped to a thin-ice $91 million, while the backlog kept growing...