At the conclusion of a two-day international congress held in Bogota, Colombia on Nov. 24-25, the National Association of Employees of the Bank of the Republic (ANEBRE), demanded that the Bank of the Republic, which is Colombia’s central bank, “re-establish capital and exchange controls … a system of fixed exchange rates with the dollar, following the Bolivian example … re-establish development credit … and apply to join the BRICS economic pact and the Belt and Road Initiative, promoting changes in the model of economic development where the central bank serves the needs of the productive economy.”
Among the presentations made to the Congress, prior to the adoption of the final Declaration, was a speech by Dr. Roger Edwin Rojas Ulo, the interim President of the Central Bank of Bolivia, who spoke about his country’s model of directed credit for productive economic activities, protected from international speculative finance by capital and exchange controls; and remarks by Dennis Small, Schiller Institute Ibero-American editor, on the topic “The International Financial Crisis and the New Development Architecture.” Some 170 participants were present in the conference auditorium (with another 200 connected via Facebook), including a deputy director of the Colombian central bank, academics and professionals, and national and international trade union leaders from Italy, Argentina, Uruguay, Mexico, Costa Rica, Peru and other countries, associated with UNI Global Union. UNI Global Union is an international trade union association which represents more than 20 million workers in the services sectors in 150 countries.
