Pérez Esquivel to Griesa: it is just not to pay an illegitimate and immoral debt
Mr. Thomas
Griesa
Judge of the United States District Court
Southern District of
New York, USA
Receive my
fraternal greetings of Peace and Goodwill.
Rather
than address you as the judge involved in a case that has for some time been
holding the people of Argentina in suspense, I want to address you as a person.
I would like to contribute more openly to the reflection on the situation that
has arisen in our country, as a result of the pretensions of a small group of
financiers who hold a few bonds of the foreign debt claimed of Argentina. They
seek to collect 100% of their face value, in a way that will have a serious
impact on the lives of our people, having purchased them for pennies and
without ever having invested in our well-being.
I hope,
Mr. Griesa, that you understand the situation of the Argentine people and the
social, economic, and political implications of the payment of this immoral and
unjust debt for the people and communities most in need.
You should
be aware that the bonds whose payment is now being discussed are stained with
the blood of the victims of the military dictatorship. They are part of a debt
that was generated behind the backs of the people and that was never used for
their wellbeing. They are part of the debt that was then imposed in the '90s,
renouncing sovereignty and unconstitutionally ceding jurisdiction to foreign
courts like yours, supposedly to pay off the previous debts.
That is
why we affirm that it is an illegitimate, immoral, and unjust debt. Behind the
numbers are faces that question and challenge us; faces of children, of youth,
of men and women who are victims of the social and structural injustice,
impoverishment, misery and social exclusion that affect millions of people in
our country as well as in Latin America and the world.
I'm sure
you are aware of this, as well, too, of the weight of financial speculation in
giving rise to these situations. More than an external debt, it has become an
eternal debt: mathematically unpayable
notwithstanding all the effort to do so with its high cost in human lives and
the sacrificing of the country's development. It can never be just that
financial capital is privileged over the life of entire peoples.
This is
also why we, together with many others, have long struggled against the payment
of these illegitimate debts, demanding an official audit of the claims, the
application of existing Argentine law, the nullification of the jurisdictional
waiver, and that new bonds, contracts and treaties not be signed that continue
these same unacceptable practices.
Mr.
Griesa, it is not my intent to call into question your action as a judge, but I
do worry about blind justice. You well know that not every law is just, and
that what is legal is often confused with being right, or that the situation of
a people is not taken into account and it is treated as something abstract and
distant. You are surely familiar with the work of Henry Thoreau, when he writes
that the law must be obeyed, but that it is equally necessary to resist any
unjust law until it is overturned. I think this is a particularly relevant
reflection in regard to these powerful financiers who, in order to carry out
their policies of veritable plunder and prey, look for support where they
should not be able to find it.
Certainly,
this leaves aside the omissions and mistakes made by successive governments of
Argentina, including Parliament and our judiciary, in taking on their
responsibilities with respect to the management of these bonds and indeed, the
entire debt. Even though from the time of the dictatorship over thirty years
ago until now, most have recognized the illegitimacy and illegality of the debt
accumulated, none of them have undertaken the necessary steps, including for
example an audit, to separate what is legitimate from the illegitimate, what is
legal from that which is illegal, so as to prevent the Argentine people from
continually being forced to pay the tremendous cost of a debt they do not owe.
I do not
know if you are aware that in Argentina, there was a judicial ruling in the
year 2000, establishing the fraudulence and arbitrariness of much of the debt
that gave rise to the bonds now held by these hedge funds that are seeking to
collect what in justice, does not belong to them. There are also complaints
whose judicial investigation is still open, regarding those very bonds.
According to the laws of our republic and international law, these debts should
be considered null and void. The Guiding
Principles on Debt and Human Rights remind us that it is the responsibility
of all lenders and borrowers, to investigate and not pay unfair debts.
This debt
is a heavy and unwanted legacy, carrying with it a heavy load of pain and
sacrifice. Indeed, this debt has become a mechanism that carries with it the
domination and subjugation of an entire people.
Our
country wants to and should fulfill its responsibilities and obligations. It is
necessary to enforce the law, but in order to do so it is necessary first to
distinguish between what is legal and what is legitimate, between the law and
justice. It is also necessary to recognize that under the law, paying the
"internal debt” to the people must take priority: the fight against
hunger, impoverishment, and the social marginalization of large sectors; the
challenges of education and health; ensuring that children do not die of hunger
and preventable diseases and that our youth are able to lead a decent life
without being robbed of their hope.
I'm sure,
Mr. Griesa, that you understand what an important opportunity is in your hands
to ensure that justice is served, and not merely the application of laws that
some have more power than others to impose. These laws need to be changed, in
the U.S., in Argentina, and elsewere, to avoid situations of this nature.
Meanwhile, we still hope that justice might prevail and that the rights of
those who have not yet been heard in court are given the priority they deserve.
Thank you
for allowing me to share with you these reflections. If you would find it
helpful to elaborate further on any of the above elements, I am at your
disposal.
Sincerely,
Adolfo
Pérez Esquivel
Nobel
Peace Prize Laureate and
President,
Dialogue 2000-Jubilee South Argentina and the Service for Peace and Justice
SERPAJ
-Buenos Aires, June 26 2014
(translated from the original in Spanish)