Children suffer malnutrition as economy slides
(14 Nov 2002) 1. Various of street scene in financial district 2. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Luis González, vox pop "I think that the government should give priority to what's going on in the country first, like the health of our children which is te future of the country." 3. Two shots of central bank 4. Set up shot of Felipe Noguera, analyst 5. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Felipe Noguera, analyst "Argentina today is in an "on hold" situation". Capitalism is on hold here at the moment, and so it is everything else, thus creating economic stability. But the bottom line is that Argentina doesn't know where it is going, and I think neither does the IMF:" 6. Cutaway. 7. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Felipe Noguera, analyst. "Hunger should not be related to geographic or climatic problems. It comes from poverty. A country like this produces lots of food but some people are hungry because thery're poor. And another country may have a problem, let say a draught, but if the economy is in the right path, it will be able to import food." Channel 13. Tucumán, November 14, 2002. 8. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Francisco Gomez, father of death child. "I have been unemployed for over two years now. Last time the government gave some kind of help with food or money was six month ago." 9. Malnutritioned child carried by nurse Canal 13. Buenos Aires, November 14, 2002. 10. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Eduardo Duhalde, President of Argentina: Channel 13. Tucumán, November 14, 2002. 11. Two shots of Gomez family's house in shanty town 12. Various of malnutritioned children at hospital. STORY LINE: Argentina's government failed to pay on Thursday 805 million US.dollars to the World Bank as part of its foreign debt payment. The country already defaulted last December with the private creditors, and is in great danger of doing so with the multilateral organisations such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. President Eduardo Duhalde and his Economy Minister Roberto Lavagna are negotiating an agreement with the IMF that will allow the country to avoid debt payments in the next few months. Mr. Lavagna said during a press conference in Washington DC where he is in meetings with the IMF that in the case there is no agreement, they will not use money from the country's reserves. Meanwhile the less fortunate in this South American country suffer the consequences of their already dire situation. Four childen died from malnutrition in the past few days in Tucuman, northern province of Argentina. Tucumán is the center of the country's almost extinct sugar cane industry. Almost half of its 1,3 million population live below the line of poverty, and the province's health system is in virtual collapse. Three of the children died in small towns in the interior of the province, and the other one in the capital San Miguel. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: / ap_archive Facebook: / aparchives Instagram: / apnews You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...
