LWI 2008-030 Ecuador's State Minister Patino Commends LWF Churches for Support in Foreign Debt Review

[LWFNews]

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Ecuador's State Minister Patiño Commends LWF Churches for
Support in Foreign Debt Review
Latin American Church Leaders Conference Discusses Illegitimate
Foreign Debt

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras/GENEVA 4 June 2008 (LWI) – "As Christian
brothers and sisters, we must fight for our vision of human
development without descending into extremes of affluence and
poverty." Ecuadorian Minister of State Ricardo Patino made these
remarks at the 2008 conference of church leaders from the
Lutheran World Federation (LWF) member churches in Latin America.
Illegitimate foreign debt was one of the major discussion topics
of the 31 March to 4 April gathering in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

"We have discovered errant clauses in a number of treaties that
have strongly impaired previous Ecuadoran governments with regard
to legitimate legal rights," said Patino, who is also president
of the national Commission for the Complete Auditing of Public
Debt (Comision para la Auditoria Integral del Crédito Publico –
CAIC). Ecuador's President Rafael Correa founded CAIC in July
2007 to look into the legitimacy of the country's public debt
between 1976 and 2006.

As an example, Patino pointed to a treaty clause signed by the
government, in which it relinquished its claims to any legal
rights irrespective of whether or not the law would be in its
favor. "There are treaties that stipulate that even if the
Ecuadoran government were to overpay its creditor banks, the
banks would have no obligation to return these funds."
When asked whether Ecuador had refused to repay any of its
foreign debt, Patino replied: "If illegitimate actions can be
proven in the course of investigating the treaties or the treaty
negotiations, we will not repay such debts. However, the
Ecuadoran government will repay its foreign debt in cases where
transactions have taken place legally and legitimately."

Patino expressed his appreciation to the LWF and Latin American
Council of Churches (Consejo Latinoamericano de Iglesias-CLAI)
for their support in the process of reviewing Ecuador's foreign
debt. "We received your support when we were but a small office
in a university. Now that we are part of the government, we hope
to realize that which we demanded from the government back then.
We are grateful that you continue to support us in this effort,"
he added.

Rev. Martin Junge, area secretary for Latin America and the
Caribbean in the LWF Department for Mission and Development
(DMD), described Patino's participation in the regional church
leadership conference as significant. "We are pleased that the
minister accepted our invitation to come and report to the
region's church leaders on Ecuador's foreign debt review," said
Junge. The Latin American theologian noted that the Ecuadorian
government invited the direct participation of the LWF, which
currently chairs CAIC's working group on the legal aspects of
foreign debt.

The LWF member churches in the region started the advocacy
program on illegitimate foreign debt in 2004. Supported by DMD,
the program's goal is to raise awareness at various levels of the
church about the illegitimacy of foreign debt, both in the
developing countries and industrialized world.

Delegates to the 2003 LWF Tenth Assembly said in a public
statement that the debt burden was "a major barrier against
eradication of poverty and fulfillment of basic human rights for
all." The representatives of LWF member churches urged
international financial institutions and "the dominant nations in
the world" to accept responsibility for the bad policies,
decisions and practices, which had led to the debt crisis. They
underscored "an urgent need to develop mechanisms at an
international level in order to find ways" to introduce
justice-oriented debt management. (589 words)

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(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the
Lutheran tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund, Sweden, the LWF
currently has 140 member churches in 78 countries all over the
world, with a total membership of over 68.3 million. The LWF acts
on behalf of its member churches in areas of common interest such
as ecumenical and interfaith relations, theology, humanitarian
assistance, human rights, communication, and the various aspects
of mission and development work. Its secretariat is located in
Geneva, Switzerland.)

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