Date: Tue, 29 May 2001
Citibank strangles Colombia

Pour ceux/celles qui pensent à la Citibank... For those interested in
Citibank...

Rainforest Action Network has sent us this info on Citibank in Colombia.

Citibank is the largest north american bank and the 3rd largest in the world.

"As for Colombia we have been doing a lot of work with the U'wa people who
you are probably familiar with.  The U'wa have tried to make it clear that
US involvement in Colombia is about oil and that the "War on Drugs" is a fake.
Citigroup is the number one funder of oil pipelines in the world and
a huge investor in the fossil fuel industry in general.

They were the lead arranger on the main loan to the Colombia government
last year (we call it "privatizing structural adjustment") see article from
the financial news service Bloomberg with our introduction below.  We share
your belief that the best way to support people in Colombia and to stop the
war is to go after the banks who are funding it.

In our work against Citi RAN has been focused on indigenous rights, oil and
forest destruction but we are working with a broad coalition in this country
of groups who have different complaints against Citi.

.....

Now that oil companies like Occidental, BP-Amoco, Texas Oil etc (who all
lobbied on behalf of US
military aid) have secured increased US military aid, the big Wall St.
banks are looking for a larger cut of the action in Colombia.  Hence we see
Citibank - targeted by a cross section of movements as the world's most destructive
bank - privatizing Colombia's structural adjustment by arranging a $250
million loan.  Citibank intends to profit from
Colombia's debt crisis and direct funds into further oil and other
resource exploitation efforts that will increase violence, human rights
violations and environmental destruction.  For more information on the
campaign against Citibank see
http://www.ran.org/ran_campaigns/citigroup/homev3.html


Citibank Starts Selling $250 Mln Loan for Colombia

New York, Nov. 21 (Bloomberg) — Citibank NA, a unit of Citigroup Inc., said it started
selling parts of a $250 million loan it's arranging for Colombia to help the
country invest in new projects and meet funding needs.

The bank held a lenders meeting yesterday in New York, which was attended by
about 20 banks, and plans to hold a second meeting in Bogota tomorrow.
Standard Chartered Bank, BNP Paribas, Chase Manhattan Corp. and Banco Bilbao
Vizcaya Argentaria SA have already committed to lend as joint arrangers.

Colombia has to use $100 million of the loan to finance new investments. The
remainder will go toward Colombia's balance of payments, Citibank officials
said."

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