By John Ward Anderson / Washington Post Foreign Service
HAVANA, April 15 -- Strapped by debt, cut off from the technology boom and tied to a global economy that is dragging them down, the leaders of the world's poorest countries who gathered here this week said they are the victims of an unfair economic order, and sided squarely with the thousands of protesters expected to descend on Washington.
In a global dovetailing of agendas, members of the Group of 77--an organization of underdeveloped countries that represents about 80 percent of the world's population--said they share many of the same concerns and goals as the protesters, who are expected to try to disrupt meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund scheduled for Sunday and Monday.
D.C. police have said tens of thousands of demonstrators could descend on the city to protest the lending policies of the IMF and the World Bank, sparking fears of a potential repeat of the anarchy and violence that plagued Seattle during the World Trade Organization meeting in December.
"I, for one, support the demonstrators," Arthur Mbanefo of Nigeria, spokesman for the Group of 77 during its three-day summit, said at a news conference today.
"Many countries have rejected the results of various policy initiatives of the World Bank and IMF," he said, specifically citing privatizations of state-owned industries, crushing debt burdens and a "one-size-fits-all" attitude that does not account for economic, cultural and political differences among countries. "We are very supportive of demonstrations that could forcefully handle those concerns."
The Group of 77, or G-77, was formed in 1964 by a group of underdeveloped countries--most in the southern half of the globe--to try to influence the mostly northern wealthy countries. Its goal is to help them develop more rapidly and alleviate poverty. During the summit here, the group--which now has 133 members --complained that global economic policies dictated by the rich northern countries have locked them into a cycle of poverty from which they cannot escape.
Instead of stabilizing economies, said Belize's prime minister, Said Musa, such policies "have stabilized poverty."
The summit--attended by about 40 heads of state--came as efforts intensified between the United States and Cuba to resolve the custody battle over Elian Gonzalez, the 6-year-old boy rescued in November from a shipwreck off the Florida coast in which his mother and others fleeing Cuba drowned. The boy has been living with relatives in Miami, who want him to remain in the United States, while his father and the Cuban government argue for his return to the island.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was one of few leaders who mentioned Elian during the summit, saying the child should be returned to Cuba "with the man who gave him life." However, other members informally expressed their support for the child's return to Cuba.
Cuban President Fidel Castro was silent on the matter during official summit meetings, which suggests that he wants to continue laying blame for the affair on what he calls the "Miami mafia" of Cuban exiles, rather than on the U.S. government, which supports the boy's return to his father.
Castro's reticence did not extend to the deep philosophical and economic differences that divide the world's rich and poor countries in general, and Cuba and the United States in particular. He called the gap between the north and south a "new apartheid."
In a speech closing the meeting Friday night, he said, "The current economic order, imposed by the rich countries, is not only cruel, unjust and inhuman ... but also carries a racist view of the world which inspired the Nazi Holocaust and concentration camps."
Although the summit generally steered away from thorny bilateral issues, the gathering unanimously expressed its support for an end to the U.S. embargo of Cuba because it seemed purely "punitive," and "has had tremendous adverse consequences on the women, children and the people of Cuba in general," summit spokesman Mbanefo said today.
The demonstrators in Washington might not agree with all of the pronouncements made here, but many statements would resonate with them--particularly those aimed at the World Bank, IMF and WTO. The three organizations are financial powerhouses, funded mostly by rich northern nations, that act as the world's chief lending institutions and trade organizations. For access to their money, developing countries often are forced to implement painful political and economic reforms to more closely conform to Western-style democracy and free-market economics.
In the summit's final declaration, the countries called for a greater voice in global economic decisions, increased aid and exports to underdeveloped nations, greater technology transfers, and the cancellation of unsustainable debt that is forcing many countries to pay more in interest than for social services.
Reflecting a strong sense that the G-77 had to work together to force change, South African President Thabo Mbeki said at the summit: "We believe consciousness is rising, including in the north, about the inequality and insecurity globalization has brought ... about the plight of the poor countries." He cited the Vatican's campaign to reduce foreign debt, the conflicts at the WTO's meeting in Seattle last year and the planned demonstrations in Washington as evidence of "a changing atmosphere which a more coherent Third World voice can take advantage of."
"It is indeed time to recover our fighting spirit," said Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, G-77 chairman. "No doubt that from here we go forward, determined to make a difference."
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