wfn.org | Salvadoran Lutheran Bishop Says Reconstruction Pledges are Inadequate

[franki@elca.org]

Churches, NGOs Want Greater Involvement of Civil Society

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador/GENEVA, 5 April 2001 (LWI) - "Disappointing" was
the term used by the Lutheran bishop of El Salvador, Medardo E. Gomez, to
describe the USD 1.3 billion recently pledged by the international community
for reconstruction in El Salvador.

The amount is not enough to provide long term relief to the people affected
by the earthquakes in January and February. "It is almost like the beggar
gathering up the crumbs that fall from the rich man's table," the bishop of
the Salvadoran Lutheran Synod told Co Latino, a local newspaper.

The result of the Salvadoran delegation's proposal to the Consultative Group
in Madrid, a meeting jointly sponsored by the Inter-American Development
Bank (IDB) and Spain was a package of USD 1.3 billion in reconstruction aid
to be received over the next four years. This amount contained USD 300
million in donations, USD 700 in credits on favorable terms and USD 300
million in restructured previous loans. The donors included the European
Union, the United States and Japan.

Before the Madrid meeting, President Francisco Flores, who led the
delegation, had cautioned against a repeat of mistakes made in 1999 after
the devastation of Hurricane "Mitch"+the industrialized nations first
pledged USD 3 billion dollars, later reducing the amount to a tenth of the
total. Finally most of it has not yet been released.

Considering the hardship in El Salvador that had been worsened by the
earthquakes, Bishop Gomez was surprised that the United States would
contribute USD 110 million for the next two years. This amount was blatantly
disproportionate to the USD 3 billion paid during the war as "aid". In this
context the bishop expressed concern that the majority of rural workers were
unemployed and could not afford basics such as food. There would be
widespread hunger in the future, he said.

The Madrid meeting was attended by representatives of the Foro de la
Sociedad Civil para la Reconstrucci=n y el Desarrollo (a civil society forum
for reconstruction and development). The group consists of churches and
non-governmental organizations and is part of a network working for
sustainable development in Central America. The forum had repeatedly
criticized the government for excluding civil society in its plans for
reconstruction after the devastating earthquakes. The group expressed
concern that the government's plan would not benefit the 1.4 million people
that were directly affected, and would still promote the reconstruction of a
society based on inequality, exploitation and exclusion.

In Madrid the forum sought to present a strong case. Since El Salvador was
practically flattened anyway, reconstruction should take place in a new
context. The collapse caused by the earthquakes posed a "unique opportunity"
to work on the "weak points" of El Salvador, stressed Rev. Ricardo Cornejo,
a Lutheran pastor. "God calls us to turn these weak points into strengths so
that we do not rebuild the misery that prevailed before the disaster and was
caused by the earthquakes of poverty, violence and social exclusion."

In a press release in Madrid, the civil society forum urged that the
following principles be considered: active participation of the population,
social balance, decentralization and transparency. This calls for a
management style that is based on a broad national consensus.

The major earthquakes in El Salvador between 13 January and 17 February this
year caused damage estimated at about USD 3 billion dollars. Over 3,000
people lost their lives, and thousands were injured. About 330,000 houses,
numerous bridges, churches, schools and health facilities were destroyed. In
addition, over 500,000 of the estimated six million inhabitants were
rendered homeless.

(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the Lutheran
tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund (Sweden), the LWF now has 131 member
churches in 72 countries representing over 60.2 million of the nearly 64
million Lutherans worldwide. The LWF acts on behalf of its member churches
in areas of common interest such as ecumenical relations, theology,
humanitarian assistance, human rights, communication, and the various
aspects of mission and development work. Its secretariat is located in
Geneva, Switzerland.)

[Lutheran World Information (LWI) is the information service of the Lutheran
World Federation (LWF). Unless specifically noted, material presented does
not represent positions or opinions of the LWF or of its various units.
Where the dateline of an article contains the notation (LWI), the material
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