Word: latinized
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Government, the ticking of the debt bomb is no less disturbing. In the 1980s new democracies laboriously replaced dictatorships in more than half a dozen Latin American countries. In Argentina the third military uprising in 20 months was dispelled; shortly afterward, soldiers won a 20% pay hike. By sweeping municipal elections in Brazil's major cities last November, the left posed a credible political threat to the government of President Jose Sarney. With nearly a dozen Latin American debtor nations scheduled to hold presidential elections in the next two years, some populist candidates lure voters with promises of radical solutions...
There is a growing awareness among Western leaders of the need for workable solutions. French President Francois Mitterrand has suggested allowing an organization like the International Monetary Fund to buy depreciated Latin debt and accept interest payments in line with the loans' discounted value. Author John Kenneth Galbraith and Harvard economist Jeffrey Sachs call for the Latin Americans to declare moratoriums on their current interest payments and pay only as much as they can afford. For some nations the plan would be tantamount to debt forgiveness, which would force banks to write off the loan- loss reserves they have...
...Latin American governments are increasingly looking to the U.S., and particularly the incoming Administration of George Bush, for both leadership and financial help. The President-elect has said he wants to take a "whole new look" at the problem, but aides say his proposals will probably be more evolutionary than revolutionary...
While such assurances sound all too familiar, many Latin leaders are hopeful that this time words may translate into action. Bush has acknowledged the "enormous problems" debt poses to "our own hemisphere." But it remains to be seen whether the U.S. will finally have a leader who understands that a solution to the Latin debt crisis is in America's own interests...
WORLD: Drowning in debt and with little expectation of boom times, Latin America looks to Washington for help...