Deadly consequences

The Democracy Center have published a critically important report looking at the deadly and violent consequences of IMF-promoted policies on Bolivia. It tells the story of how IMF policies were linked to the death of a nurse, Colque, and 33 other Bolivians who died in February 2003 during protests against a tax-increase that the poor could not afford.

It has been published as the annual IMF and World Bank meetings take place in Washington. Deadly Consequences is a very vivid case-study of how the market fundamentalism the IMF promotes is not something confined to the dense reports you can find on their website, but is an ideology that leads to policies that have a very real human and devastating impact.