LADBAC@UNMB.BITNET (Dr. Barbara A. Kohl) (08/28/89)
EL SALVADOR: REPATRIATION OF REFUGEES
On Aug. 18, the Salvadoran government confirmed a
decision to repatriate about 8,000 refugees currently
residing in Honduran camps close to the Salvadoran border.
The refugees will not be permitted to return to their places
of origin.
Vice president and Interior Minister Francisco Merino
said that a government commission was currently visiting
the Colomoncagua, Mesa Grande and San Antonio camps to
elaborate a relocation plan.
Refugee representatives demand that the government
permit them to return to their places of origin. The
majority of refugees residing in the Honduran camps are
peasants from northern and eastern El Salvador who fled
their homes between 1980 and 1984. (Basic data from Xinhua,
08/19/89)
SALVADORAN PRESIDENT ANNOUNCES NEW
ECONOMIC PROGRAM TO BENEFIT POOR
On Aug. 24, in a speech broadcast on nationwide
television and radio, President Alfredo Cristiani announced
a new economic program consisting of six different projects
for a total investment of $200 million. Cristiani said the
program would be launched next week, and that its major
objective is to "construct a homeland that does not have
extreme poverty."
Cristiani acknowledged that 330,000 Salvadoran families
live in absolute poverty, result of "destruction caused by
bad economic models" and by the "irrational violence"
perpetrated by the guerrillas.
The program consists of "integrated projects" in the
areas of job creation, housing, nutrition, and community
development and rural development in the eastern region of
the country. The president said that a temporary labor
project at a cost of $20 million will involve 20,000
month-long work contracts. Most of these jobs will be
located in rural areas prior to and after the agricultural
harvest.
Next, said Cristiani, the government plans construction
of 30,000 low-income houses. Priority beneficiaries are
families who lost their homes in the 1986 earthquake. A
similar program, he added, is planned for rural areas.
In the four eastern departments, the government plans
to spend $32 million to establish basic services and to
create community development programs directed by municipal
authorities.
Cristiani also announced that in order to "ameliorate
the effects of economic measures," the government has
designed a program to import foodstuffs, and beginning next
January, to reduce income taxes for low-income persons.
(Basic data from Notimex, 08/24/89)
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