Lorenzino will explain in the U.S. why debt bonds are not being paid

La Nacion

Lorenzino will explain in the U.S. why debt bonds are not being paid

Saturday, June 4, 2012

By Silvia Pisani

The Economy Minister will travel to Washington, where American investors are pressing against Cristina Kirchner’s decision not to pay the “vulture funds” 

It will be interesting to see.  Economy Minister Hernan Lorenzino will come within the week to this city to speak about the Argentine debt default and the decision not to pay the holders of bonds that continue to sue over that commitment.

Lorenzino’s arguments will be the first every publicly mounted by the Argentine government in this city, where the strongest actions have been concentrated by American investors against the decision by the government of Cristina Kirchner to not pay the so-called “vulture funds”.

The decision lines up within what Ambassador Jorge Arguello called the “need to dispel erroneous ideas” about our country’s debt and “proportion a response to the repeated questions around” the issue.

In fact, weeks ago the ambassador mounted an “information” campaign about Argentina which includes the sending of a regular newsletter to the main centers of political decision-making in the city.

In recent months, the government of Barack Obama applied a series of pressures on our country over the non-payment of its obligations.  First, it began to vote against credits for the country from multilateral credit organizations, like the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) and the World Bank.

Shortly ago, Obama himself personally suspended tariff benefits for Argentina for the same reason.  Now, there is pressure in the U.S. Congress to “suspend” Argentina as a member of the G-20.

Lorenzino’s intervention in this city will come only two days before President Cristina Kirchner arrives in New York to speak about the Malvinas and, possibly, to defend the economic “model” – including the debt policy- before economic players.

The minister will speak at the embassy and it will be on the occasion of presenting the book, “Argentina and the Default of 2001: Myths and Realities”, a text dedicated, precisely, to evaluating the debt crisis of our country.