Tuesday, February 24, 2009

¡El agua es nuestra!

More than 52,000 Salvadorans have signed a petition in support of a constitutional amendment for the right to safe, clean water - and hundreds of those signatories marched in San Salvador to personally deliver the document to the Legislative Assembly, reports the Latin American Herald Tribunal. According to the World Bank, El Salvador is the worst country with regard to providing access to clean water, yet the Legislative Assembly has yet to approve the amendment. The article cites ARENA (National Republican Alliance) deputies as the source of most of the opposition to the amendment. The ARENA party has strong ties to private businesses that wish to privatize water resources. However, with ARENA's loss of seats in the Legislative Assembly, the possibility that the Legislative Assembly will approve the amendment looks more positive in May, when the new Legislative Assembly will take over.

SHARE Foundation supports Salvadorans' demand for universal access to safe, clean drinking water. Privatization, mining, contamination by factories, and lack of sanitation services threaten communities' access to water as well as the lives of Salvadoran citizens everyday. This year as SHARE celebrates the life and legacy of Monsignor Romero, we also ask our partners to raise awareness on water rights both in their own communities and abroad. To find out how you can support water rights in El Salvador, contact Sara Skinner at skinner@share-elsalvador.org.

- Sara Skinner, US Grassroots Coordinator

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

that is really nice article to make it familiar to me thnks.