The seventy-eight-percent of malnourished children in the state of Guerrero in southern Mexico cannot be addressed by the state government due to its limited resources, acknowledged the local chairman of the System for Integral Family Development (DIF), Laura del Rocio Herrera de Aguirre.
Before the federal Secretary of Social Development, Rosario Robles, Herrera stated that the state government only has resources to meet the needs of twenty-two-percent of malnourished children in both rural and urban areas.
"The needs are many in our state, but the needs exceed the budget," she said.This Saturday, Herrera and Robles participated in a day of community service for the National Crusade Against Hunger in the Acapulco neighborhood of Simón Bolívar, one of the country's main tourist centers. Símon Bolívar is a popular neighborhood in the city.
During the meeting, Robles stated that Acapulco is among the four hundred municipalities that will benefit from the National Campaign Against Hunger because of its high rate of urban poverty.
In recent weeks, some opposition lawmakers have accused the federal government of including among the beneficiaries municipalities with levels of poverty that are not as severe as others located in rural areas.
"They questioned us why we chose Acapulco. People have the idea of Acapulco as a tourist town and do not know that there are thousands of people living in extreme poverty. Yes, in Acapulco they have food shortages, and we strongly defend the criterion of including Acapulco," said Robles.
"It's not fair, it is unacceptable that in the twenty-first century in this city there are so many contrasts. Everyone has a right to live with dignity," the federal official added.Acapulco, with 790,000 inhabitants, is one of the ten municipalities with the highest number of people in poverty, according to the report published in 2010 by the National Council for Evaluation of Social Development Policy (CONEVAL).
The community work day on Saturday kicked off a program of temporary employment and the expansion of the neighborhood Símon Bolívar Health Center, as well as actions for feeding children, improving housing and caring for older adults. ... Spanish original