Salvador: Where Does the Aid Go? Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit DIRECT FROM CUBA Special Moncada Edition - July 26, 2001 . *El Salvador: Where Does The Humanitarian Aid Go? by Sunia Santisteban Havana, July 26 (PL)--With all the aid sent to El Salvador from different international organizations after the recent earthquakes, it is valid to ask if these funds will follow the same route as donations sent after the devastation of Hurricane Mitch in 1998. Analysts have confirmed that the support for the victims of the hurricane ended up in the treasuries of different political parties, business people and other corrupt persons linked to the government. Last March the Consultation Group of donors approved an aid plan for El Salvador of $1.3 billion to help repair the damage caused by the earthquakes of January 13 and February 13, and the 8,000 aftershocks. The quakes left 1,259 dead and almost 8,000 injured; in all 1.5 million people were affected. The material loss totalled $1.6 billion. According to European experts, of the initial amount Europe approved to alleviate damages in that Central American country, only a small part actually went to San Salvador and of this, only a very small part went to victims. Although exact estimates are difficult, these analysists that that bureaucracy, corruption and greed have eaten away so much of the aid that only a tiny proportion has actually been spent on relief and reconstruction. Numerous social sectors in El Salvador, including the Catholic Church, have criticized the official project of national reconstruction because of its exclusive concern with the business sector, not the nation's individual victims. San Salvador's Bishop Gregorio Rosa Chavez considers this plan "unacceptable" and advised the country to show the world a united front. The bishop called upon the government of President Francisco Flores to change its approach and invite a broader representation to design a new program. The main opposition party, the FMLN (Frente Farabundo Marti para la Liberacion Nacional) called for a joint taskforce to include municipal authorities and representatives of all civilian society. The FMLN proposed four points for recovery: national solidarity, use of public funds, private investment and foreign cooperation. It also suggested creation of a Reconstruction Fund to be under the control of the administration, the victims, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and guilds of small and medium-sized businesses. The FMLN pointed out the need for a strategy to prevent the impact of natural disasters on the deteriorated Salvadoran infrastructure and the creation of a new road network to expedite the reconstruction program. The party, which evolved from the former guerrilla armed forces, suggests that it would be fair to use large, unused lands for provisional resettlement of the earthquake victims and to tax the large capital holdings and incomes of the wealthiest in El Salvador. This idea caused panic in the Salvadorian oligarchy, and according to the local press, the rightwing political parties called the idea "preposterous." The FMLN also recommended using $20 million of the Inter-American Development Bank's loan to El Salvador for construction of housing and attending to other needs in the municipalities in high-risk zones. They called for a halt to the privatization plans proposed by the neo-liberal government and recommended that priority be given to setting aside funds for emergencies. Confronted by a failure of economic aid, the victims of the earthquakes have organized a Committee for Defense of the Victims of El Salvador and demonstrated several times to make their demands known. The government's reconstruction plan was the main target of protest by the demonstrators, who marched along the main streets of San Salvador and met in front of Congress. The President of the Committee, Etel Guerrero, declared that safer homes were needed, subsidies as well as equipment to work the land and to ensure survival of those who have been left so defenseless. "Eighty percent of the victims have received no aid, because it is politicized," Guerrero stressed, and added that "the mayors and government only give food to the members of their political parties". William Pleitez, United Nations Development Program (UNDP) official, declared recently that the social impact of the earthquakes is greater than the economic impact because the index of poverty increased five percent. "Many of those who were poor before the earthquakes are, today, poorer", he pointed out. Pleitez is also working as coordinator of the UNDP's 2001 Index of Human Development project for El Salvador. The economist noted that there does not seem to be the social capital required to rebuild what was destroyed, in his opinion "because all the national energy has not been focused on solving this situation". To top it all off, experts point out that the Salvadoran currency, the colon, is scheduled to disappear January first as a result of the dollarization of the economy. NGOs in this country have noted the need for urgent measures to solve the present crisis in order to avoid an "uncontrollable social confrontation". These organizations asked the Cabinet to define its priorities and direct them in four areas: housing, jobs, rebuilding production and alleviating human misfortune in the face of natural disasters. The target of all these charges is the power controlled by the rightwing government party, Alianza Republican Nacionalista (ARENA), which the disillusioned population accuses of political favoritism. GCP/SUN/AVP/CCS (c) 2001 Prensa Latina, NY Transfer News. All rights reserved. ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytcamer-07.26.01-20:56:51-969