Together with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has lorded over an exploitative economic agenda in Latin American countries not seen since the conquistadors plundered the region in the 16^th century. While the IMF and World Bank have been at the receiving end of the ire of social justice movements for a while, the IDB and other regional development banks have continued to operate under a veil of innocence and impunity.

When it was formed in 1959, the IDB’s purported goal was to promote the economic and social development of Latin America. 45 years later, IDB projects have left many people in poverty and ravaged the environment and economies of many Latin American countries. To curb the negative influence of the IDB, a number of organizations in Central America launched this campaign in Honduras in July 2003.

The primary goals of this hemispheric campaign are to raise awareness through popular education and strengthen the ties of collaboration among organizations working on issues related to the IDB. We will also equip community groups with tools so as to increase their capacity to influence decision making about projects and disseminate information about the impacts of IDB-funded projects.

History

This campaign was launched in La Esperanza and Tegucigalpa, Honduras in the fall, 2003. About 1,500 participants at the Fourth Mesoamerica Forum representing more than 200 organizations from Central America and Mexico kicked off this campaign against the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). So far, more than 600 organizations have signed onto the boycott. By a boycott is meant: 1) the full rejection by communities of IDB capital penetrating their countries, 2) rejection of grants from the IDB by indigenous and community organizations, 3) commitment to force national government to reject IDB funding and political conditions, and 4) a boycott of the purchase of IDB bonds by institutions in wealthy countries where the IDB raises most of its money. Through the campaign, member organizations and communities mount financial and political pressure with the ultimate aim of stopping the imposition of IDB policies and debt on the nations and citizens of Latin America and the Caribbean.

Strategies

• Exposing the role of the IDB in the re-colonization of Latin America and the Caribbean through a massive information campaign;
• Building the bases among those affected by IDB projects to reject IDB and other international financial institution capital in their communities;
• Strengthening collaboration between organizations and countries working against the IDB;
• Putting pressure on the governments of Latin America and the Caribbean not to pay odious debts from IFI loans;
• Equipping community groups with tools so as to increase their capacity to influence decision-making about projects;
• Supporting mobilizations, protests, denunciation, and other activities of resistance to disastrous projects funded by the IDB and other IFIs. Sharing information about acts of resistance against the IDB in Latin America.

Campaign Membership

Currently, members of the campaign include:

1. Agricultural Missions, Inc. US,
2. Alianza Mexicana por la Autodeterminación de los Pueblos (AMAP), Mexico
3. Asociacion de Comunidades Rurales Para el Desarrollo de El Salvador (CRIPDES), El Salvador
4. Asociación para la Promoción y el Desarrollo de la Comunidad (CEIBA), Guatemala
5. Assembly of Peoples of the Caribbean,
6. Center for Economic Justice (CEJ) US,
7. Centro de Estudios Internacionales (CEI), Nicaragua
8. Centro de Investigaciones Económicas y Políticas de Acción Comunitaria (CIEPAC), Mexico,
9. Colectivo de Organizaciones Populares, República Dominicana,
10. Consejo Cívico de Organizaciones Populares e Indígenas de Honduras (COPINH)
11. Convergencia de Movimientos de los Pueblos de las Americas (COMPA)
12. Ecumenical Program on Central America and the Caribbean (EPICA), US
13. Encuentro Popular, Costa Rica
14. Federacion de Trabajadores de Agua Potable y Alcantarillado (FENTAP),
15. International Rivers Network, (IRN) US
16. la Asociacion Nacional Sindical de Trabajadores y Servidores Publicos de la Salud, Seguridad Social Integral y Servicios Complementarios de Colombia (ANTOCH) Colombia,
17. Papda Haití
18. Red Vida – Peru,
19. Rights Action, Canada
20. The National Center U.S.-El Salvador Sister Cities, US
21. Social Justice Committee(Canada)

To join members of this campaign and hundreds of other organizations who have adopted the boycott of the IDB, new organizations have to agree with the principles of the manifesto against the IDB in addition to subscribing to the goals stated above. To join the campaign, please send the following information to the Center for Economic Justice (info at econjustice dot net) or 505 232 3100

GO TO CEJ'S MAIN WEBSITE: www.econjustice.net