{"id":1494,"date":"2014-07-07T10:05:13","date_gmt":"2014-07-07T09:05:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.moebius77.com\/blog2\/?p=1494"},"modified":"2014-07-07T10:07:12","modified_gmt":"2014-07-07T09:07:12","slug":"devaluacion-y-golpe-de-estado","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.moebius77.com\/blog2\/2014\/07\/devaluacion-y-golpe-de-estado\/","title":{"rendered":"Devaluaci\u00f3n y golpe de Estado"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Despu\u00e9s de leer la divertid\u00edsima “D\u00eda de los muertos<\/strong><\/a>“, decid\u00ed zambullirme en “Red jungle”, otra novela de Kent Harrington. El autor norteamericano nos propone ahora un relato de intrigas en medio de la selva guatemalteca, mientras Russell, el protagonista, intenta hallar una ruina maya que lo har\u00e1 millonario.<\/p>\n

Sin embargo, el personaje principal se ve envuelto en las pol\u00edticas internas de Guatemala, un pa\u00eds que se enfrenta a un grave situaci\u00f3n econ\u00f3mica debido a la ca\u00edda de los precios del caf\u00e9. Como asesor de un partido pol\u00edtico que parece destinado a perder las elecciones, Russell expone su soluci\u00f3n a la crisis econ\u00f3mica:<\/p>\n

“There\u2019s going to be a
\ndevaluation of the
\nquetzal. I just heard,\u201d
\nAntonio said.
\nThey had all met at De
\nLa Madrid\u2019s house, the
\nentire would-be cabinet,
\nincluding Senator
\nValladolid. The senator
\nwas scheduled to be De
\nLa Madrid\u2019s foreign
\nminister. Probably a
\nmistake, Russell thought,
\nglancing at the old man.
\n\u201cAre you sure?\u201d
\nRussell said.
\n\u201cYes. My brother just
\ncalled.\u201d Madrid\u2019s brother
\nwas head of the Bank of
\nGuatemala. \u201cIt gets
\nworse. It\u2019s going to be
\neight to one,\u201d Antonio
\nsaid, looking at him.
\n\u201cJesus!\u201d (…).
\nRussell went to a space on
\nthe couch and sat down
\nbetween the would-be
\nminister of the interior
\nand a young woman who
\nwas slated to be minister
\nof defense. If Madrid was
\nelected, she would be the
\nfirst woman in
\nGuatemalan history to
\nhold the post.
\nRussell didn\u2019t think
\nthey had a chance now.
\nThe political situation\u2014if
\nthere was a devaluation\u2014
\nwould be chaotic at best.
\n\u201cWhy now?\u201d Russell
\nasked as he sat down.
\n\u201cThe government
\ncan\u2019t make the payment
\non a dollar loan coming
\ndue next week\u2014five
\nhundred million,\u201d
\nAntonio explained. \u201cThey
\ndon\u2019t have the reserves,
\nand they can\u2019t borrow any
\nmore because of the
\ncoffee crisis. The World
\nBank will provide a
\nbailout package, but only
\nif we submit to an IMF
\nrestructuring. Devaluation
\nof the currency is the
\ncenter-piece of the plan,
\nof course. It\u2019s supposed to
\nmake our coffee more
\ncompetitive.\u201d
\n\u201cThe whole country is
\nbankrupt!\u201d Senator
\nVallodalid said
\ncheerfully. \u201cPretty soon
\nwe\u2019ll be paying them to
\nbuy our coffee.\u201d He raised
\nhis glass and smiled at
\nRussell. He was drinking
\nscotch out of a Waterford
\ntumbler and wore a pink
\ncravat. He looked like he
\nwas going to Cap Ferret,
\nnot facing a political and
\nfinancial crisis.
\n\u201cWe were wondering
\nwhat you thought we
\nshould do, young man?
\nYou seem to know all
\nabout these financial
\nmatters,\u201d Valladolid said.
\n\u201cI just think they want
\ncheap coffee.\u201d All the
\nmen and the woman
\nshook their heads in
\nagreement. \u201cAfter all,
\nEurope and America are
\nhaving a recession,\u201d the
\nsenator said. \u201cThey want
\na bargain.\u201d
\n\u201cIt\u2019s criminal. It
\nmeans we get even less
\nfor our coffee,\u201d the young
\nwoman next to him said.
\nShe was a young human
\nrights lawyer whom
\nMadrid had selected
\nbecause her good liberal
\ncredentials would steal
\nvotes from the more
\nradical left elements. \u201cIt
\nmeans the price for hard
\nbean superior would be. . .
\n.\u201d
\n\u201cAbout ten dollars a
\nkilo,\u201d Russell finished her
\nsentence.
\n\u201cThat\u2019s impossible. It
\ncan\u2019t be allowed,\u201d Madrid
\nsaid.
\n\u201cThe unemployment
\nrate will go to fifty
\npercent if the IMF gets its
\nway,\u201d Russell said. \u201cIt
\nwill open the door again
\nto the Communists.\u201d<\/p>\n

The devaluation would
\ncreate a financial death
\nspiral, Russell knew. It
\nwas essentially the same
\nthing that had just
\nhappened to Argentina.
\nOnce the international
\ncurrency speculators got
\nwind of the IMF plan,
\nthey would drive the
\ncurrency down even
\nfurther. The government\u2019s
\nbonds would be
\nworthless, and interest
\nrates would skyrocket.
\nDollar reserves, so crucial
\nto any modern banking
\nsystem, would leave the
\ncountry almost
\nimmediately as the rich
\npulled their dollars out of
\nthe country\u2019s banks.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy brother says that
\nPresident Blanco has
\nalready approved,\u201d
\nMadrid said.
\nThey were all looking
\nat Russell. None of them
\nhad trained as
\neconomists.
\n\u201cThere has to be a
\nsolution,\u201d Madrid said.
\n\u201cWe can\u2019t let the country
\nslip away again.\u201d
\nThere was silence.
\nEveryone in the room,
\nincluding Russell, had
\nlost someone in the war.
\nRussell looked at the
\nfaces in the lamplight.
\nThey were frightened. No
\none wanted another
\nArgentina. No one wanted
\nthe Communists to come
\nback as a political force.
\nNo one wanted more
\nviolence.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe government
\ncould declare a debt
\npayment holiday while
\nthey try to renegotiate
\nwith the creditors. Then
\nmaybe they could build
\nreserves, defend the
\nQuetzal. But if you
\ndeclare a debt holiday,
\nGuatemalan bonds are
\ngoing to collapse. And
\nnew loans will be
\nimpossible to get, because
\nthe IMF will blacklist
\nyou. You can\u2019t win\u2026.
\nThere is no solution. The
\nIMF and the World Bank
\nhold all the cards. On the
\nother hand, if they
\ndevalue there will be
\nmassive inflation and
\nunemployment. I think
\nthe war will start all over.
\nThe reds are already
\nmaking noises,\u201d Russell
\nsaid. \u201cThey\u2019re probably
\ntalking to Castro in
\nHavana right now. It\u2019s
\ntheir big chance to make a
\ncomeback. They\u2019re
\nprobably praying for a
\ndevaluation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s what the
\nAmericans want, isn\u2019t it?\u201d
\nValladolid said. \u201cI mean,
\nthey want Selva to win.
\nThey don\u2019t care if there\u2019s
\npolitical chaos. In fact, I
\nthink it serves their
\npurpose. When has peace
\nand prosperity served the
\ncolonists?\u201d the old man
\nsaid. \u201cWe\u2019re finished. We
\nwere finished a long time
\nago.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy don\u2019t you stop
\nblaming the fucking
\nAmericans for
\neverything? They didn\u2019t
\nborrow the fucking
\nmoney from Citibank and
\nthen steal it. They didn\u2019t
\nsend it to accounts in
\nSwitzerland. And they
\ndidn\u2019t stop you from
\ninvesting here instead of
\nsending your money out
\nof the country for the last
\nhundred years,\u201d Russell
\nsaid angrily. \u201cThat\u2019s the
\nproblem with you people.
\nYou haven\u2019t taken
\nresponsibility for your
\nown damn country.
\nWhere are the factories,
\nthe highways, the
\nrailroads? You\u2019re as
\nmuch to blame as the
\nAmericans are, for
\nChrist\u2019s sake!\u201d
\nThe young woman
\nlawyer stood up angrily.
\nMadrid told her to sit
\ndown.
\n\u201cHe\u2019s right,\u201d
\nValladolid said. \u201cHe\u2019s
\nright. All of you have
\nbank accounts in Miami. I
\nknow I do. That\u2019s the
\nhorrible truth. We, the
\nclass that mattered here,
\nwhen did we really
\nbelieve in the country?
\nThe boy is right.\u201d
\nRussell poured
\nhimself a glass of wine
\nand went to the window.
\nHe felt ashamed of his
\noutburst. The others
\nstarted to talk about party
\npolitics. He listened for a
\nwhile. Their internecine
\nsquabbles seemed
\nludicrous in the face of
\nthe economic crisis that
\nwould sweep them all
\naway.<\/p>\n

It was late. He drained
\nhis second glass of wine
\nand walked back to the
\ncouch. Everyone had left
\nbut the Senator and
\nMadrid. There was no
\nconsensus on how to face
\nthe devaluation. It looked
\nas though Madrid\u2019s
\ncoalition would break
\napart. A privatization of
\nthe telephone company,
\nwhich had been the
\ncenterpiece of their
\nplatform, seemed
\nimpossible now. Who
\nwould want to buy it now,
\nwith the country in chaos?<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s one
\nsolution,\u201d Russell said,
\ncoming back to the couch.
\n\u201cWell, go ahead boy,
\ndon\u2019t keep us in
\nsuspense,\u201d the senator
\nsaid.
\n\u201cA coup,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cWe get rid of Blanco and
\ntake power. Ignore the
\nIMF\u2019s suggestions. Do it
\nbefore the election. Then
\nyou privatize the
\ntelephone and the water
\nand electricity companies.
\nWith the money you get,
\nyou defend the quetzal.
\nIt\u2019s a gamble, but it might
\nwork. The international
\ncapital markets will love
\nthe privatization, and
\nmight just not sell the
\ncountry\u2019s debt off once
\nthey hear the plan. They
\ncertainly won\u2019t care much
\nabout the coup, given how
\nbad things are anyway. As
\nlong as we make it clear
\nthe new government is
\npro-business. . . . Interest
\nrates might actually go
\ndown,\u201d Russell said. \u201cIt\u2019s
\na big gamble. But you\u2019ll
\nhave to move quick.
\nPresident Blanco has to
\ngo. And the army has to
\nbe brought to heel.\u201d The
\ntwo older men looked at
\nhim, open-mouthed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt might work,
\nRudy,\u201d Madrid said
\nfinally. \u201cJesus . . . it just
\nmight work. We\u2019ll hold
\nelections in a year after
\nthe coup.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe embassy will
\ncome to Blanco\u2019s
\ndefense,\u201d Valladolid said.
\n\u201cBut I like it. Blanco is a
\nprick. I never liked the
\nman,\u201d the senator said.
\n\u201cI think the telephone
\ncompany alone is worth
\nmaybe a billion dollars.
\nLet\u2019s say in four months,
\nyou have five or six
\nbillion in the treasury.
\nThat\u2019s enough. You
\nwouldn\u2019t have to
\ndevaluate,\u201d Russell said.
\n\u201cYou could start paying
\non the defaulted loans.\u201d
\n\u201cAll we have to do is
\noverthrow the military
\ngovernment,\u201d Rudy said.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s child\u2019s play . . .
\nreally!\u201d They all laughed.
\n\u201cOf course\u2014because
\nit\u2019s Guatemala\u2014they\u2019ll
\ntry to kill us first,\u201d
\nMadrid said. \u201cBecause
\nnobody in this fucking
\ncountry can keep a
\nsecret!\u201d<\/p>\n

(…)
\n\u201cYou know if we
\ndecide to do this, we
\nmight all be killed,\u201d
\nMadrid said, looking at
\nhim. \u201cYou realize that,
\nyoung man?\u201d
\n\u201cYes. But we might
\nalso save the country
\nfrom a civil war and
\nfinancial collapse,\u201d
\nRussell said.
\n\u201cJesus. I love young
\npeople!\u201d Rudy said.
\n\u201cThey always are ready to
\ndie. Personally, I love life
\ntoo much, I think. The
\nolder you are, the more
\nyou love it.\u201d
\nRussell looked at
\nMadrid.
\n\u201cHe\u2019s right, Rudy,\u201d
\nMadrid said. \u201cWe have no
\nchoice now. Do we?\u201d
\n\u201cNo, I suppose not.
\nBut I certainly hope we
\ndon\u2019t have to die. I
\nsuppose we can\u2019t do this
\nfrom Miami, young
\nman?\u201d
\n\u201cNo,\u201d Russell said,
\nand smiled. \u201cYou can\u2019t do
\nit from Miami.\u201d
\n\u201cI didn\u2019t think so. It
\nwas just an idea.\u201d
\n\u201cWell, welcome to the
\ngovernment,\u201d Madrid
\nsaid, looking at Russell.
\n\u201cI\u2019m appointing you to
\nthe provisional central
\nbank as of this evening.
\nYou\u2019ll have to run the
\nprivatizations. . . . And
\nhelp us plan this coup.\u201d
\n\u201cMe?\u201d
\n\u201cIt was your idea,\u201d
\nMadrid said. \u201cAnyway,
\nwe can trust you, I think. I
\ndon\u2019t even trust Rudy.\u201d
\n\u201cYoung man, if we
\nmanage to get ten billion
\ndollars in the treasury,
\nyou won\u2019t even be able to
\ntrust God himself,\u201d the
\nsenator said”.<\/p>\n

“Red jungle” vale bastante la pena. Es una novelita de ritmo endiablado, lleno de escenas de sexo t\u00f3rrido en medio de la selva (y a veces los cangrejos), tiroteos con guerrillas y maquinaciones tras bastidores.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despu\u00e9s de leer la divertid\u00edsima “D\u00eda de los muertos“, decid\u00ed zambullirme en “Red jungle”, otra novela de Kent Harrington. El autor norteamericano nos propone ahora un relato de intrigas en medio de la selva guatemalteca, mientras Russell, el protagonista, intenta … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[346,159,349],"class_list":["post-1494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-h-s","tag-kent-harrington","tag-literatura","tag-red-jungle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.moebius77.com\/blog2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.moebius77.com\/blog2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.moebius77.com\/blog2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.moebius77.com\/blog2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.moebius77.com\/blog2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1494"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.moebius77.com\/blog2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1494\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1497,"href":"http:\/\/www.moebius77.com\/blog2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1494\/revisions\/1497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.moebius77.com\/blog2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.moebius77.com\/blog2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.moebius77.com\/blog2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}