Jul
Advocacy, CRIPDES Regional Support, Defending Natural Resources
CRIPDES: challenges of rural communities during the COVID19 pandemic
(EN ESPAÑOL AQUÍ)
CRIPDES held a press conference where they read the following statement:
The Association for the Development of El Salvador (CRIPDES), celebrating its 36th anniversary, maintains its commitment to watch out for the Rights of unprotected and vulnerable people on the rural areas of the country.
The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated multiple economic and environmental problems and has affected hundreds of families who survive from the informal economy, agriculture, and small business. The government dispositions of only imposing a mandatory home quarantine and an exception regime, since March, has made impossible for farmers to work in rural communities, which has brought low production of food and crops for the families.
For this reason, CRIPDES’ regions like UCRES, CCR, CRIPDES SUR LA LIBERTAD, CRIPDES SAN VICENTE and PROGRESO have accompanied the 300 communities with which they work, while witnessing how forgotten they are. It is evident the ignorance of the living conditions in rural communities. When the government announced a total ban of public transportation in the entire country, they did not take into account or they decided to ignore that almost 85% of the population uses buses daily to purchase food, medicine and for other important activities.
CRIPDES organized and supported alongside the international cooperation to help the communities and face the lack of food, medicine, and cleaning supplies. We made a priority out of families in vulnerable conditions, single mothers, people with chronic diseases, elderly people, pregnant women, and those affected by the recent storms.
CRIPDES stands with the rural communities on their project of developing community agroecological gardens. This is an alternative to face the high cost of food in the markets, also to make sure their food is clean and free of agrotoxics.
Even with the limitations to the economic industry, the environmental damage has not ceased. The sugar cane mills have not stopped the irrigation and harvesting of sugar cane, hurting even more the health conditions of the communities. Furthermore, we have seen that the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources has granted permits to develop and construct more damps over the rivers that provide water to fulfill the basic needs of hundreds of families and we must remember that, to protect ourselves from COVID-19, it is vital to have access to clean water.
We are aware of the hurt and pain the virus is causing to thousands of families in our country and around the world. To all of them we want to express our solidarity and send our sympathies. We want to emphasize the importance of following a biosecurity protocol that can lower the risk; but, at the same time, we want to express our concern due to the lack of a plan that responds to the specific needs of families living in extreme poverty, a plan that goes beyond just telling them to stay at home.
That is why we demand from the government to prioritize our rural communities, providing aid and needed resources such as heath services, water, quality food and cleaning supplies to face the most critical time of the pandemic. We also suggest the design of a strategic plan specifically for rural communities, where life is quite different than in the city. So far, the latter has been the government’s priority, as shown by official advertisement addressed to the upper-middle class.
CRIPDES will continue to accompany and support these communities, but it will also continue demanding that the government provide solutions to these issues. As it has been done since its beginning on July 14th, 1984, this organization will continue denouncing and informing about the problems and challenges that we, as a social organization, face. We want a society more just and equitable, where there are real benefits for every woman and man, without distinctions of class.
Watch the press conference here (in Spanish)
