Tens of thousands protest IMF debt-payment pact
Work stoppage urges government to not renew agreement
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) -- Thousands of protesters across Honduras blocked streets and burned tires Tuesday to demand the government not renew a debt-payment agreement with the International Monetary Fund.
The protests were launched by the left-leaning Political Block and Democratic Unification Party, and supported by 30,000 elementary and high school teachers, doctors, nurses and blue-collar workers who staged a one-day work stoppage. The demonstrations also caused extensive traffic jams.
Groups across Latin America, including the Political Block and Democratic Unification Party, long have argued that countries pay too high a price to meet IMF conditions, which call for governments to slim down their operations, including cutting back on social programs, in exchange for debt relief.
The protests came a day after representatives of the IMF arrived in the capital to see whether Honduras qualifies as a "highly indebted poor nation," which could result in the organization forgiving $960 million of its $4.4 billion in foreign debt.
Honduras has failed to meet the terms of its 2001 IMF agreement, which required the country to reduce its fiscal deficit from 5 percent to 2.5 percent and to stabilize public spending. The agreement expired in December.
Honduras faces grave economic problems because of a drop in prices of its chief export products: coffee, bananas and shrimp.
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