| In
Puerto Rico, Disparate Bank
Lending, Predatory Investors,
UN's Maria Photo Ops
By Matthew
Russell Lee
PUERTO RICO,
October 3 – The
UN system's
International
Monetary Fund
has yet to
announce any
debt
moratorium for
countries
impacted by the
recent
hurricanes,
and despite
photo op trips
by those who
could speak to
and of the
IMF, nothing
is changing.
Most holders
of Puerto
Rico's debt
are doing
nothing to
help. Even in
2016 before
Hurricane
Maria,
according to
Home Mortgage
Disclosure Act
data just
released,
Banco
Santander
Puerto Rico
made 88
conventional
home purchase
loans in upper
income tracts
in the San
Juan MSA, 50
in middle
income tracts,
seven in moderate
income tracts
and NONE in low-income
census tracts.
Citibank made
a single large
loans in San
Juan, for a multi-family
apartment
building. The
UNironically
named Whitebox
Advisors,
which has sued
on Puerto Rico
debt, has "a
policy of not
discussing
Puerto Rico."
We don't.
Watch this site. Back
on September
18 UN
Secretary
General
Antonio
Guterres'
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric gave
the press a
mere three
minutes to
sign up to
attend the
UN's meeting
about Irma, see
below. As the
meeting began,
Inner City
Press asked
not Dujarric
but the
spokesman for
the President
of the General
Assembly for
the PGA's view
of the IMF's position
on (no) debt
moratorium. From
the PGA Office's
summary:
"Asked for the
President’s
reaction to
comments by an
International
Monetary Fund
(IMF)
official, in
which the
official
allegedly said
that the IMF
would not be
open to
instituting a
debt
moratorium for
hurricane-hit
Antigua and
Barbuda, the
Spokesperson
replied that
the President
would not want
to
second-guess
the comments
of an IMF
official in an
area of the
IMF’s
expertise. The
Spokesperson
reiterated
that the
President was
committed to
the recovery
of Antigua and
Barbuda, which
is why he had
convened the
high-level
meeting on
Hurricane Irma
and invited
the Government
of Antigua and
Barbuda to
speak there."
In the
meeting, Achim
Steiner of
UNDP told even
Caribbean
nations they
could not
speak, so that
Robert De Niro
could. You
talkin' to me?
When
the IMF re-started
its biweekly
embargoed
press
briefings on
September 14,
Inner City
Press
submitted a
question
about Hurricane
Irma and moratoria:
"On Antigua
and Barbuda,
and Hurricane
Irma impacted
countries more
generally... will
there be no
moratoria?
What is the
IMF doing?" IMF spokesperson
Gerry
Rice said,
"There's a
question from
Matthew Lee on
moratorium...
on that, I
would refer to
what Mme
Lagarde said a
few days ago,
of course the
IMF has
tremendous
sympathy. She
also said we
stand ready to
help. There
are a number
of options we
can look at in
that context.
At the moment
we are still
trying to make
an assessment.
As a factual
member, none
of our members
including
Antigua and
Barbuda have
formally
requested
assistance
from the
Fund." Oh. On
September 15,
when
Inner City
Press at the
UN asked Patti
Smith about it,
UN spokesman Stephane
Dujarric
cut off the
question saying he
would answer
it at his
forthcoming briefing.
He did not.
Instead, with
a mere three minutes'
notice, at 3:57 pm
on September
15 he told the
Press it had until 4
pm to request
a seat to
cover the UN's
meeting on
Irma. He also
excluded
Inner City Press
from information
about his
"background"
briefing on UN
General Assembly week.
***
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