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Meanwhile, representatives of international cooperation agencies chose to ignore this and celebrated “progress” with a dance that, ironically, symbolized the tragedy of hunger that affects millions of Guatemalans.
Such situations have been repeated under successive governments, with a vicious cycle of international bureaucracies and dysfunctional state apparatuses perpetuating the food crisis.
Despite the system of impunity…
Meanwhile, representatives of international cooperation agencies chose to ignore this and celebrated “progress” with a dance that, ironically, symbolized the tragedy of hunger that affects millions of Guatemalans.
Such situations have been repeated under successive governments, with a vicious cycle of international bureaucracies and dysfunctional state apparatuses perpetuating the food crisis.
Despite a system of impunity that perpetuates poverty and misery in much of the country, cases of corruption related to the fight against hunger are common. Unfortunately, the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food (MAGA) is one of the departments most affected by the mafia, which steals public resources intended for food. These scandals range from buying spoiled food to delivering to rural families to using vouchers and fertilizers as campaign gifts.
There are also reports of the Deputy Ministry of Food Security hiring unqualified personnel and providing food to those who do not need it and even to the dead. The agency’s sole function is to distribute food; however, one of its most pressing activities, mapping food insecurity and identifying households in need, is neglected due to technical shortcomings.
As a result, several ministries and secretariats that have a shared responsibility under the law to address food and nutrition insecurity have been infected by the virus of corruption, rendering the institutions that are supposed to address the problem non-functional.
(frasepzp1)
On the other hand, the contributions of some partner institutions that have government entities as counterparts have also fallen on deaf ears. Another thing that these evil individuals who feed on hunger covet is the loans that we and our future generations will have to repay. A case in point is the $100 million World Bank loan for the “Crecer Sano” project approved in 2019, but only $49 million has been disbursed so far; that is, less than half due to the poor performance and questionable procurement incidents of the previous two governments. For example, a newly established company was hired to conduct training workshops for health personnel at a cost of 11 million quetzales, and an NGO was hired to train nursing assistants at a cost of 15 million quetzales. These two amounts totaled $26 million, which could have been used to provide master’s degrees to about 866 MSPAS employees of USAC. From the same loan, $3 million was intended for the evaluation of project indicators, but they were used to implement the baseline of the National Nutrition Campaign, the signature project of the previous government against malnutrition, and the results of which were almost delivered at the end of that government. In fact, they care little about improving people’s food and nutritional security; what they are really interested in is business.
In a country where need and suffering are so evident, it is unacceptable that some benefit from the suffering of others. It is time for citizens to wake up and hold accountable those who have turned hunger into a business, because real progress is not measured in empty applause, but in the well-being of our people. Stop profiting from hunger!
As my final contribution for this month, I share Link for more information on Crecer Sano loans.
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