Representatives of diverse social movements and networks from the
entire
continent spoke out that the people of the south are the actual
creditors
of all historical, social and ecological debts.

The participants in the Assembly spoke about the need to coordinate
strategies in order to obtain reparations and restitutions for all the
harm done and goods plundered in the South as a consequence of the
payments made on foreign debts.

The Assembly of Creditor People from the South was an initiative that
the
continental network Jubilee South Americas organized together with
other
organizations and movements from the continent such as the Alliance of
Creditor People from the South on Ecological Debt, the Latin American
Network of Women Transforming the Economy (REMTE), the World March of
Women, the International Alliance of Inhabitants, the Latin American
and
Caribbean Continental Students Organizations (OCLAE) and the Latin
American Conferderation of Rural Organizations (CLOC-Via Campesina),
amoung others. The objective was to generate an open and participative
space where people could express themselves, give testimony and
denounce
the effects that the payment of the foreign debt has on their daily
life
and ideas for stopping this problem and obtaining justice and
reparations.

More than an economic problem, the external debt is a political and
ideological problem, said Sandra Quintela, representative of the
organization Jubilee South, in introducing the activity. "In 2003 we
began working with the idea that we are creditors. The debt of our
countries has already been paid many times and, moreover, it is totally
unjust. It only causes suffering for the people and it is evident that
we
are not the debtors but, on the contrary, they own us".

She furthermore clarified that in the struggle against the payment of
the
external debt it is fundamental that social movements use strategies
that
help reaffirm this vision.

As well, in general, she remarked on the importance of carrying out
educational campaigns so that all men and women are aware of what they
are
owed, what fundamental rights are being violated and the relationships
with the external debt.

Based on the presentation of testimonies, the participants responded to
three questions: What is the debt whose payment we wish to recuperate?
Who owes you this debt? How should this debt be reparated or paid?

Maria Rosa Anchundia from Ecuador, representative of the REMTE network,
said: "There is an invisible debt, which is the debt owed to women.
The
work that we carry out contributes not only to the maintenance of the
economies of families but is also the real base for the functioning of
the
economic system. The debt affects women considerably - the reduction
in
health and education budgets will mean the overloading of women's work.
The state must pay this debt to women by means of social security. Our
call is to struggle against financial capital, against imperialism and
to
demand the payment of this debt to women".

The representatives of the distinct organisations present highlighted
that
the corporations and transnational companies from the countries of the
North, the World Bank, the Interamerican Development Bank, the
International Monetary Fund, and the governments and political leaders
that are accomplices are responsable for the imposition of the debt as
they plunder nature and destroy the environment, promote financial
liberalization policies and the privatization of water, air, and earth,
do
not stimulate industrial development, implement fiscally conservative
policies and reduce social investment so that more funds are flowed to
the
payment of the debt.

The participants also presented diverse proposals and initiatives to
strengthen the struggle against the payment of the debt. Some
proposals
were: to undertake audits of the external debt in order to determine
who
really owes who; to undertake actions to stop the implementation of
free
trade and to demand that governments implement policies of integration
that favour the rights of the people.

Trans. Amanda Procter