In other news from Latin America, Argentine President Néstor Kirchner has announced the country will pay off the entirety of its nearly $10 billion dollar debt to the International Monetary Fund. The Financial Times notes the payment promises an end to one of the most bitter and controversial relationships entered into by the IMF. Argentina borrowed over $13 billion dollars following a devastating economic collapse in December 2001 — a collapse many Argentines blamed on economic policies pushed by the IMF. On Thursday, Kirchner said the IMF had “acted towards our country as a promoter and a vehicle of policies that caused poverty and pain among the Argentine people.”