Argentines protest for an end to debt incurred during dictatorship

Published: 2006-07-17

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (CNS) -- Dozens of Argentines protested outside Congress demanding an end to payments of what they called "immoral" foreign debt racked up under the South American country's 1976-83 military dictatorship. The July 13 demonstration was held on the sixth anniversary of a federal judge's ruling that Argentina's foreign debt "was grossly increased from 1976 by means of a vulgar, grievous economic policy which brought the country to its knees." "We can't pay with the hunger and suffering of our people," said Sister Liliana Marsans of the Sisters of St. Anthony of Padua and president of the conference of Argentine religious. Sister Liliana took part in the rally attended by social and religious groups. "We have paid this debt six, seven, eight times over. The people have a social debt," she said. According to the protesters, Argentina's foreign debt leaped from $7.8 billion in 1975, before the military government took power, to $45.1 billion in 1983. Protesters held up banners and Argentina's blue and white flags with the slogan, "Pay the Debt, Not the Fraud."

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