Mexican newspaper Omnia featured the Atlas of Vulnerability by Jubilee USA and LATINDADD in an article about how existing crises are exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Read an excerpt below (translated from Spanish) and find the full article here.

About Half of Mexicans Are Impoverished, Study Reveals

Latindadd concludes that Latin America and the Caribbean is the region most damaged by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In accordance with Laitindadd, poverty acts as an amplifying factor for the economic and health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

According to the study, the more impactful vulnerabilities in Mexico come from the low growth of tax revenues, economic loss linked to natural disasters, low levels of savings, inequality in access to telecommunications and poor health infrastructure.

The document also measured other important items such as income inequality and wealth, of which Mexico is in the middle of the pack, with 45 points in the first case, and 77 in the second (the higher the greater inequality). The nation with the most contrasts is Brazil, with 53.4 and 84.9 percent, respectively.

Read more here.

Cronica Digital mentioned Eric LeCompte and Aldo Caliari in an article discussing Jubilee USA and Latindadd's new Pandemic Vulnerability Map. Read an excerpt below and the full article here. 

Latin America and the Caribbean is the Region in the World Most Effected by the COVID-19 Pandemic

Jubilee USA Executive Director Eric LeCompte noted that the pandemic affected Latin America and the Caribbean more by factors such as dependence on tourism, decimated by shutdown; pre-existing levels of poverty and inequality; large informal sectors; and narrow tax bases.

LeCompte warned that only countries categorized by the World Bank as low-income can access emergency debt relief and other measures to mitigate the impact of the pandemic.

For Latindadd and Jubilee, this approach can dangerously underestimate the way middle-income countries are suffering the damage of the pandemic.

“We need more action from rich countries so that developing countries can face the crisis,” said Jubilee USA Policy Director Aldo Caliari.

Read the full article here.

Instituto Humanitas Unisinos in Brazil featured Eric LeCompte in an article on President Biden's meeting with Pope Francis. Read the excerpt below and the full article here.

Biden praises Pope Francis as "the foremost warrior for peace"

Eric LeCompte , executive director of Jubilee USA Network , told NCR that the meeting between Biden  and Francisco is "crucial" as it highlights "the two most important and open leaders in global policy change before the G20 ."

"The most important decisions on climate change in our lives will be made over the next five years in the G20 and the International Monetary Fund ," said LeCompte . On behalf of Jubilee USA , an interfaith organization that advocates debt relief for countries development, he praised the Biden administration , saying the United States "is now the leading government in responding to the global climate crisis."

LeCompte said the Biden administration was the first to require all government agency spending to comply with its climate mitigation policies.

“No one else in the G20 has really started to do this yet,” he said, adding that he believes Biden's meeting with the pope offers a “united front” to pressure other presidents and prime ministers to do the same.

Read the full article here.

The National Catholic Reporter mentioned Eric LeCompte's article on the global COVID response in Barron's. Read the excerpt below and the full article here.

Links: Big Pharma fearmongering; Mark Zuckerberg's Meta; antisemitism on the left

by Michael Sean Winters

At Barron's, Eric LeCompte, executive director of Jubilee USA, calls on the G20 summit leaders to leave no country behind as they continue to forge the global response to COVID-19 and the economic dislocation the virus has created. LeCompte is one of the few people who master both Catholic social doctrine and issues of international finance and policy, and can translate the moral principles into policy action. Let's hope the leaders were listening.

Read the full article here.

Crux spoke with Eric LeCompte on the 26th Annual UN Climate Change Conference or COP26. Read the excerpt below and the full article here.

Catholic activists say COP26 is about ‘caring for your neighbor’

The Bond Buyer referenced Eric LeCompte in an article on the future of Puerto Rico's debt following House Bill 1003, a new bond restructuring which is likely to pass through Congress next week. Read an excerpt below and the full article here. 

Questions remain about Puerto Rico deal's viability

When observers were asked if Puerto Rico would be able to afford the deal in the long term, most expressed skepticism. “Strategically speaking, it is a smart move from the [board],” said Fernós Sagebien. “This places the entire burden on the Puerto Rico’s two branches of government [executive and legislative] responsible for the budget as they are now forced to identify nonexistent free cash flow in order for Office of Management and Budget to honor the full pension expenditure.

He said the deal was not affordable and “I don’t believe any of the three parties (Federal Oversight and Management Board, executive branch, and legislative branch) involved care. They all know time is of the essence and we are running out ... they have proven unfit to serve. The citizens of Puerto Rico feel like this is like in Evolutionary Game Theory’s ‘Red Queen's race’: ‘constantly running but remaining in the same spot.’”

Marxuach said the feasibility of the deal could be measured using economic development tools or simply through examining whether it would prevent hunger, provide a good education, decent healthcare, and a reasonable livelihood for the elderly.

“I fear though that Judge Taylor Swain has a strong incentive to approve a plan, any plan,regardless of whether or not it is the best plan for Puerto Rico and the current circumstances,” Marxuach said. “She was appointed to this job by Chief Justice [John Roberts, Jr.] so it is in her professional interests to confirm a plan and put an end to this long process. The risk is that a whole generation of Puerto Ricans would be paying the price of living with a ‘good enough’ plan for decades to come.”

Jubilee USA Network Executive Director Eric LeCompte said, “If not enough debt was cut and revenue plans fail, Puerto Rico will likely default again in a few years. Growth assumptions seem unrealistic, austerity slows growth and Medicare and other federal monies are not certain."

Read more here. 

Participating Communities

Jubilee Weekend 2021: A COVID Response that Shares Medicine, Ends Poverty and Protects our Planet

Arlington Community Church - Berkeley, CA
Ascension Lutheran Church - Thousand Oaks, CA
Athens Catholic Community - Athens, OH
Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration - Clyde, MO
Bernardine Franciscan Sisters - Chester, PA
Bethlehem Lutheran Church - Encinitas, CA
Capitol Heights Presbyterian Church - Bailey, CO
Caritas Zambia - Lusaka, Zambia
Catholic Theological Union - Chicago, IL
Chestrad Global - London, United Kingdom
Christ Presbyterian Church - Carlsbad, CA
Christian Life Community - Baltimore, MD
Church of Reconciliation - Chapel Hill, NC
Clerics of St. Viator - Arlington Heights, IL
Jubilee Albany Capital Region New York - Albany, NY
Congregation Gates of Heaven - Schenectady, NY
Crossroads UCC - Indianola, IA
Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul Province of the West - Santa Barbara, CA
David's United Church of Christ Liberty - Township, OH
Dominican Leadership Conference - New York City, NY
East County Shared Ministry – ICCCC - Pleasant Hill, CA
Fairmount Presbyterian Church - Cleveland Heights, OH
First Congregational Church of Chicago UCC - Chicago, IL
First Congregational Church of Santa Barbara - Oceanside, CA
First Presbyterian Church - Portland, OR
First United Church of Christ - Galion, OH
First United Methodist Church - Missoula, MT
Franciscan Sister - San Bruno, CA
Friends in Solidarity - Silver Spring, MD
God Given People - Silver Spring, MD
Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart - Philadelphia, PA
Hazel Crest Community UMC - Crestwood, IL
Hephatha Lutheran Church - Milwaukee, WI
Holy Cross Parish - Philadelphia, PA
Holy Spirit Missionary Sisters, USA-JPIC - Northfield, IL
Institute of Analysis and Advocacy - Poltava, Ukraine
Itav project 48 Foundation Inc - Douglasville, GA
Lakeshore Avenue Baptist Church - Oakland, CA
Leadership Conference of Women Religious - Silver Spring, MD
MCCJ - Butembo, DRC
Missionary Society of Saint Columban - Minamiashigara, Kanagawa, Japan
Muslims for Economic Justice - Farmington Hills, MI
National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd - Silver Spring, MD
National Association of African Catholics in the U - Silver Spring, MD
Nevada City (CA) United Methodist Church - Nevada City, CA
New Hope Collaborative - New Orleans, LA
Open Society Foundations - Washington, DC
Pax Christi USA - North Liberty, IA
Peace Lutheran Church - Danville, CA
Pilgrim Congregational UCC - Sawyer, MI
Placentia Presbyterian Church - Placentia, CA
Presbyterian Disaster Assistance - Louisville, KY
Presbytery of the Pacific - Los Angeles, CA
Public Service Workers' Union of Ghana
Rural Infrastructure and Human Resource Development Organization - Peshawar, Pakistan
Saint Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral - Clyde Hill, WA
San Diego Regional Interfaith Collaborative - National City, CA
San Dieguito United Methodist Church - Leucadia, CA
Sisters of Charity of Nazareth - Nazareth, KY
Sima Community Based Organization - Kitale, Rift Valley, Kenya
Sister of Charity of Seton Hill - Uniontown, PA
Sisters of Charity Federation - New York, NY
Sisters of Charity of New York - Bronx, NY
Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill - Bethel Park, PA
Sisters of St. Francis - Dubuque, IA
Sisters of St. Francos of Philadelphia - Aston, PA
Sisters of St. Joseph of Chambéry - Newington, CT
Sisters of St. Martha of Prince Edward Island- Canada - PEI, Canada
Society of Helpers - San Bruno, CA
Society of the Sacred Heart USC - Washington, DC
St Luke Lutheran Church - Portland, OR
St Pius x - Portland, OR
St. Alban's Episcopal - Albany, CA
St. Benedict's Monastery - St. Joseph, MN
St. John's Episcopal Church, Chicago - Chicago, IL
Temenos Catholic Worker - San Francisco, CA
Temple Beth Israel - Eugene, OR
The Larry Ellis Ealy Foundation - Dayton, OH
The River Church South - Marshfield, WI
Trinity Episcopal Church - Charlottesville, VA
United Christian Church - Austin, TX
United Church of Christ - Washington, DC
United Church of Christ, Justice and Witness Ministries - Washington, DC
United Methodist - Bath, MI
Uniting Church in Australia, Synod of Victoria and Tasmania - Parkville, Australia
Universal Alliance - Fowey, United Kingdom
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Hidalgo County, Texas - Alamo, TX
Village sans Frontière pour les Actions de Développement (VISFAD) - Conakry, Guinea
Willow Empowerment For Grassroot Development Initiative - Lagos, Nigeria

The IMF releases the 2021 Global Financial Statement Report.

Reuters mentions Eric LeCompte on IMF director Kristalina Georgieva's "curtain-raiser" speech at the IMF Civil Society Policy Forum. Read an excerpt below, and click here for the full story.

Eric LeCompte was mention by NPR in a story covering President Biden's COVID-19 summit and rich nations' role in mitigating vaccine inequity. Listen to the full story and read the accompanying article here.   

The U.S. is donating more COVID vaccines and wants other rich nations to pitch in

By Tamara Keith/NPR

Biden defended the U.S. response, saying his first responsibility was to make sure Americans were protected, and arguing that the U.S. donations have been generous. “For every one shot we’ve administered to date in America, we have now committed to do three shots to the rest of the world,” Biden said.

The new tranche of Pfizer doses will be manufactured in U.S. plants and will be bought at a “not-for-profit” price, the officials said. Most U.S. vaccine shipments — 800 million doses — will ship between January and September 2022.

Read more here.