Cyprus Official: The Occupiers Have Used the Moral Equivalent of Atomic Bomb Against Cyprus
A Cyprus Finance Ministry high official denounced the EC-ECB-IMF Troika as "forces of occupation" who used the moral equivalent of an atomic bomb against Cyprus. Christos Patsalides, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, made the comments during a judicial inquiry into the country's financial crisis which began on Friday. According to a report by Reuters, Patsalides told the inquiry that an "unrelenting" team of technocrats had ordered the destruction of the Cypriot economy.
"With the imposition of Germany and the IMF ... they shot a pigeon with an atomic bomb," he said. Asked whether forcing losses on depositors was compatible with their individual rights, Patsalides replied: "When you are dealing with forces of occupation, they don't talk about human rights. They destroyed an economic system that worked. Yes, we have our shortcomings, but the magnitude of the punishment is far greater than the size of the problem."
The policies of the "forces of occupation" are rapidly impoverishing the Cypriot population, a process that began even before the signing of the bailout deal. Although exact figures have not readily available, reports of growing poverty are filtering through the media, which is following the same pattern as Greece but is progressing more rapidly.
On April 17 farmers held a demonstration because they have not been paid for three months by middlemen who purchase their crops. Their union made an appeal for the population to buy Cypriot agricultural goods and demand that markets buy directly from producers and not middlemen who import food products.
A charity called Solidarity, active in the Larnaca-Paphos region, announced earlier this week that it was launching a drive to collect food donations for the poor, with the local radio station volunteering support through its broadcasting appeals for food and funds. The initiative was founded in 2011 as a merely local operation, to provide food for 20 families. By February of this year it was providing food for over 400 families, and that number grows by the day. The Church, which is a primary provider of aid — and which was robbed of more than EU100 million in the deposit bail-in — has been expanding its soup kitchens all over the island.
The municipality of Narcosia and the surrounding communities have instituted a barter program, in which members can barter for goods and services through a computerized point system. In this way people can offer services in return for food without using cash. Similar programs have been set up in Greece.
Greek Cyprus has a population of just over 800,000, so when one talks of several thousand or even hundreds of families as falling into poverty over a period of weeks and months, it is a significant proportion.
