IMF welcomes coup in Venezuela

On 12 April Thomas Dawson, the gaffe-prone IMF External Relations Director, welcomed the short-lived Venezuelan administration headed by Pedro Carmona, a business association leader. His administration was installed as a result of a coup against elected leader Hugo Chavez. Mr. Dawson told a journalist “we stand ready to assist the new administration in whatever manner they find suitable”. Now that Chavez has returned to power and restored the Congress it is not clear how this incident will affect his relationship with the Fund.

IMF correspondence with the administration of Pedro Carmona