Argentina: Cavallo in prison

Once the mighty powerful Minister of Economy on two consecutive country’s administrations and mastermind of the neo–liberal program carried on in Argentina during the nineties, Domingo Cavallo has been arrested today for presume complicity in the illegal sale of weapons to Croatia and Ecuador during Carlos Menem’s presidency. The former strong man of the deposed Government of Fernando De la Rua is now under provisional arrest until the courts confirm his responsibility in the operation.

However, Domingo Cavallo is not only involved in local affairs, but also is a very well known figure of the international finances. He, as a passionate supporter of the neo-liberal ideas is one of the main responsible for the burning of two countries, Ecuador in 1999 and Argentina in 2001, and almost a third in late 1998, Russia. By that time, after the slump of the Ruble and the default on public debts, Yeltsin government asked Cavallo for his advice to find a way out to the crisis. Therefore, Russia was very closed to follow the destiny of those South American countries.

In the summer of 1998, Russian radical-liberals like Boris Fiodorov, tried to bring Cavallo to Moscow to let him rule the monetary politics of the country. He would probably have become the strong man of a new Government headed by Viktor Chernomirdin, after the slump of the National Russian bonds. Fortunately for Russia, a firm opposition conducted by whom was at that time the Chief of the Central Bank of Russia, Mr. Gerashenko, avoid the appointment of the Argentinian economist.

For the Argentine history, Cavallo proved to be a “great confiscator” of people’s monies. In 1982, when he was President of the Central Bank during the criminal militarist Government, forced a general bank savings withdrawal to provoke a huge inflation which devaluated debts of the great corporations. Of course, this was financed by the working class, which saw its salaries to drop down to the lowest levels in decades. Furthermore, in 1989, Cavallo, even when he was Minister of Foreign Affairs, masterminded another confiscation by replacing bank deposits with treasury bonds.

By 1991, Cavallo tied the Peso to the US Dollar, after a hyperinflationary process that depreciated the local currency and, of course, workers salaries. With devaluated money paid national internal debts and instrumented the so-called convertibility plan, which pegged the Peso to the Dollar. Early in 2001 came back to rule country’s economy, just to see how the desperation of the people looted supermarkets and shops all over the nation.

All in all, it becomes clear that all this programs that allowed Argentina to keep on paying its astronomic foreign debt, were made at the sole expense of the people. The beneficiaries, those for whom he works: the great capital, the international financial markets, the maffias and the IMF. Thanks God, Russia did not listened to him.

Hernan Etchaleco PRAVDA.Ru Argentina