Guyana raps US over veto of farm development laon

The Guyana government has censured the United States for vetoing a $20 million agricultural loan from the Inter-American Development Board to restructure the economy of this small Latin American republic.

R. T. McNamar, deputy secretary of the US Treasury, said the decision was made on technical economic grounds and should not be taken as a vote against the government of Guyana. But Guyanese officials argued that the veto would "unnecessarily polarize the Latin American and Caribbean region, since, whatever differences may exist among the states of the region, few will be willing to see an institution as important as the IADB degenerate in effect into a one-man show." The loan requires a two-thirds majority of the board for approval, and the US, the lone dissenter, has more than one-third of the votes.