Expert Panel to Discuss House and Senate Bills for Debt Cancellation in Haiti and Other Impoverished Countries
Speakers from Miami-Dade County Trade Consortium and Community Relations Board Join Leaders of local NAACP, UN Foundation, Student Group and Haitian Women of Miami Founder, Marleine Bastien in Call for New Policies
MIAMI – As Congressional support for Debt Relief as a means to poverty reduction grows, Miami will host an in-depth discussion on how the Jubilee Act for Responsible Lending and Expanded Debt Cancellation and the Haiti Debt Cancellation Resolution (H Res 241) would allow Haiti to improve its economy.
The event is sponsored by the Miami-Dade NAACP, Pan African Students Association of Miami Dade College, and Jubilee USA Network, whose fall lobbying campaign netted an additional 20 co-sponsors for the House bill (HR 2634) and led to the introduction of the Senate bill (S 2166) on October 16 th (see www.jubileeusa.org for more information).
The event will be held on Monday, October 29 from 6 p.m.-8 p.m. at New Birth Enterprises (Little Haiti), 8400 NE 2nd Ave., Miami. They will be discussing the educational and organizing forum for Miami area citizens and their political representatives concerned about chronic poverty and instability in Haiti, and reducing extreme poverty in Africa.
Today, the world’s most impoverished countries pay more than $100 million each day in debt service to the US, the World Bank and the IMF. Haiti alone currently pays as much as $70 million each year in debt service.
In a country where 60% of the population lives in poverty and only $83 million is spent on health care, this is a tremendous amount of money that could be invested in poverty reduction or disease prevention. Given debt cancellation’s demonstrable record of helping African, Asian and Latin American countries lift themselves out of poverty, the panel will review the history behind Haiti’s crippling national debt, which was largely accrued under the corrupt Duvalier regime.
The panel will also discuss why Haiti’s debt cancellation has been delayed by the IMF, and the need to end harmful economic conditions tied to debt cancellation.
PANELISTS
Marleine Bastien, Founder of FANM (Haitian Women of Miami); Desmond Alufohai, Senior Trade Development Specialist, Miami-Dade County International Trade Consortium; Dr. Harold Vieux, Chair, Miami-Dade County Community Relations Board; Ed Cooke, President of the Miami-Dade UN Association; Brad Brown, VP of the Miami-Dade NAACP; Michael Imasua, President of the Miami-Dade Pan-African Student Association (PASA); Fr. Jean Pierre, Director of Missions, Archdiocese of Miami; South Florida Congressional Delegation representatives, TBA.
