>WASHINGTON, April 17 — The head of the International Monetary Fund urged
>protesters to demonstrate peacefully at the spring meetings of the fund
>and World Bank here this weekend, cautioning that unrest would hurt
>chances for dialogue.
>
>In making his plea, Horst Köhler, the managing director, acknowledged
>popular support for the antiglobalization movement but said the time had
>come for constructive discussion, not violence.
But yesterday there was the following Reuters report>>>
IMF head Horst Koehler -- heralding a new get-tough attitude with Argentina after years of overspending -- said "the IMF is not asking for the impossible" and bluntly told the provinces and government to "face reality" and cut jobs.
.....
Planned strikes this week -- including drivers of the armored vans that provide banks with cash -- show how difficult it will be for Duhalde to make Argentines accept more austerity after a long recession that has helped make one in two Argentines live in poverty on a few dollars a day.
Duhalde, in power for just over three months but already in the low double digits in approval ratings, himself was in no doubt of the costs involved.
"There will be social upheaval, of course there will be," Duhalde, who has been accused of using fears of anarchy to keep himself in office, told local radio.
So Koehler does not mind a little unrest so long as it is not on the streets of Washington or Berlin.
Chris Burford