Millions of people living in Argentina are desperate and they need your help. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO SEND MONEY. They are just asking you to be part of this chain letter. Please take a few minutes to read this mail. Just an e-mail or a letter from you may help them a great deal.
Argentina has been sliding into catastrophe for a long time and it is now on the verge of total collapse. At the end of 2001 the Argentine government then in power froze all savings and deposits in the country s banks.
The measure got tougher as one president after another was engulfed by the unprecedented crisis.
The freeze is now a deadly concentration camp dealing a final blow to an already dying economy. People have all their life-long savings trapped inside the banks. They are not allowed to use their money and will have to wait years to get it back in a depreciated currency. Many of them are old, others are ill or unemployed. Some others have sold their houses and cannot buy a new one now. There is no end to the terrible stories that are unfolding because of this most unfair situation. At the same time, millions and millions of people of all ages, who used to survive on odd jobs, are slipping deeper and deeper into poverty and starvation by the minute because there is no money around.
The government measure to freeze all assets within the banks and eventually give back account holders absurdly depreciated amounts has already been ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court but in most countries it would be labeled sheer theft.
All the banks, without distinction by country of origin, shielded themselves behind this government measure and did nothing to return the money to its rightful owners.
The Government is trying to ban citizens from resorting to the Courts on this matter due to the country’s economic emergency.

You are kindly asked to do the following:
1. Retransmit this message as soon as possible to as many people as you can, both in Argentina and abroad.
2. Send letters (either by e-mail, regular post or in person) to international headquarters, home offices or local branches in your country of the foreign banks operating in Argentina. A sample text of a letter complaining at the banks failure to honor their commitments to their clients is supplied.

The foreign banks operating in Argentina (by country of origin) are:
USA: Citibank - FleetBoston (BankBoston),
Canada: Bank of Nova Scotia (Scotiabank)
U.K.: Lloyds Bank - HSBC (HSBC Bank Argentina)
Spain: Santander (Banco Rio) - Bilbao Vizcaya (Banco Frances)
France: Societé Générale Banque Paribas (BNP) - Credit Agricole (Bisel-Suquia)
Italy: Banca Nazionale del Lavoro - IntesaBCI (Banco Sudameris)
Brazil: Itaú - Banco do Brasil

Please do not break this chain. With no Justice to turn to, a flood of letters putting pressure on the banks from abroad may be the only way to end to this nightmare for millions of Argentines. Thanks a lot for
your help.

Letter sample :
Dear Sirs,
I am appalled at the news from Argentina, where the local representatives of your bank are shielding behind an unconstitutional government measure so as not to honor the commitments made to your clients there.
I believe the banking system is based on trust and your behavior in Argentina is destroying this trust. You are also squandering a reputation carved out all over the world over many years.
In a globalized world, investors will most surely start to shudder at the thought of a similar fate in potentially unstable countries. That is all it takes to destroy the markets which financial institutions have tried to build.
I will reconsider operating with your bank or to do so in the future if you do not review your policies in Argentina and honor the obligations to those who entrusted their money to your care.
Yours truly,