IMF continues aid to Honduras..

While the U.S. is cutting some more aid to Honduras the IMF continues to provide aid and also the U.S. has still not determined that there was a military coup more than sixty days after the coup. Declaring that the coup was a military coup would require cutting off even more aid. The IMF aid is quite substantial. The IMF also offered aid to the short-lived coup government in Venezuela and was quick to suspend Honduran aid when Zelaya pursued economic policies the IMF did not like---probably raising minimum wages and other horrible non-neoliberal policies or perhaps it was joining ALBA.

Here are a few quotes:

"" The Fund and its advocates argue that the IMF has changed. The IMF is "back in a new guise," said the Economist. This time, we are told, it's really going to act as a multilateral organization that looks out for the countries and people of the world, and not just for Washington, Wall Street, or European banks.

But it's looking more and more like the same old IMF on steroids. Last week the IMF disbursed $150.1 million to the de facto government of Honduras, and it plans to disburse another $13.8 million on September 9. The de facto government has no legitimacy in the world. It took power on June 28th in a military coup, in which the elected President, Manuel ZelayaManuel Zelaya, was taken from his home at gunpoint and flown out of the country. The Organization of American States suspended Honduras until democracy is restored, and the United Nations also called for the "immediate and unconditional return" of the elected president.

No country in the world recognizes the coup government of Honduras. From the Western Hemisphere and the European Union, only the United States retains an ambassador there. The World Bank paused lending to Honduras two days after the coup, and the Inter-American Development Bank did the same the next day. More recently the Central American Bank of Economic Integration suspended credit to Honduras. The European Union has suspended over $90 million in aid as well, and is considering further sanctions.

But the IMF has gone ahead and dumped a large amount of money on Honduras - the equivalent would be more than $160 billion in the United States - as though everything is ok there. """"....

"""" Interestingly, the IMF had no problem cutting off funds under its standby arrangement with the democratically elected government of President Zelaya in November of last year, when the Fund did not agree with his economic policies.

We're still a long way from a reformed IMF. """"