It’s odious, and Ecuador won’t pay anymore!
Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa on Saturday said an ongoing government probe into the country’s foreign debt has unveiled “illegitimate” credits that he has vowed not to repay.
Correa, a leftist former economy minister, has pledged to stop payments of “illegitimate” debt or credits which he said were acquired under unfair terms by past corrupt administrations and that forced Ecuador to lower social spending.
But the U.S.-trained economist had until recently lowered his tone and refrained from halting debt payments. Last year he created a special commission of government officials and international experts to investigate any illegalities in foreign credits.
“Their (commission) findings are scandalous… we are not going to pay some of this illegitimate debt,” Correa said during his weekly radio address. “We are advancing in the investigation.”
You can watch or listen to him talking about that and more with Greg Palast at Democracy Now.
And now we know why John Perkins raised the red flag. He undoubtedly saw this coming.