La Jornada: Matilde Pérez U.
The Frente Amplio Campesino* (FAC) [Broad Campesino Front] considered that the Secretariat of Social Development made "an error" in signing agreements with multinationals that produce junk food and soda in the strategy to fight hunger in four hundred municipalities.
"We do not want hunger to be suppressed with Coca-Cola, Pepsi Cola, Gansitos or Barcel products," said Alfonso Ramírez Cuéllar, leader of El Barzón.At a press conference they called on the federal government to initiate, in parallel, a National Crusade for Food, which would strengthen the small-holder [often indigenous family farms] production supported by public policy, in order to integrate the cultivation of sixteen million hectares [39,536,860 acres] and one million subsistence farmers.
Carlos Ramos, representative of the Coordinating Committee National Plan of Ayala (CNPA) warned that by continuing the partnership of the federal government and organizations that sell and control junk food, the National Crusade Against Hunger "will result in failure".
Therefore, the members of this group--Coordinating Committee Independent Headquarters of Agricultural Workers and Small-Holders, the National Union of Agricultural Workers, the Democratic Coalition of Urban and Rural Organizations, Campesina Cardenista Headquarters--demanded that the agricultural sector be included in the Pact for Mexico.
In this regard, Jesús Zambrano, chairman of the Governing Council for the Pact, promised to work on the campesino proposal, and he convened a meeting for April 25 to begin the dialogue and include the campesino proposals for food production.
In this regard, Jesús Zambrano, chairman of the Governing Council for the Pact, promised to work on the campesino proposal, and he convened a meeting for April 25 to begin the dialogue and include the campesino proposals for food production.
The campesino organizations insisted on their criticisms of the decisions made by the Secretariat of Social Development to sign agreements with the PepsiCo and Nestle monopolies as part of the National Crusade Against Hunger. They considered that the transnationals
"are finished with local producers and are driving the consumption of junk food that causes malnutrition and obesity."
Therefore, Álvaro Lopez Rios, leader of the National Union of Agricultural Workers, held that such a crusade must be more than "pure tongue and saliva".
This Front agreed "to extend a vote of confidence" in the political parties [signers] of the Pact for Mexico, but that it "does not mean that they have lowered our guard or set aside defense of the rural sector."
The campesino leaders warned that if domestic food production is not addressed, Mexico will have "a national tragedy". Spanish original
*MV Note: A campesino is a person linked to the field (el campo) where crops are grown; before the Spanish, campesinos were highly esteemed as stewards of the land (Mother Earth) that produced the foods that sustained the community.
This Front agreed "to extend a vote of confidence" in the political parties [signers] of the Pact for Mexico, but that it "does not mean that they have lowered our guard or set aside defense of the rural sector."
The campesino leaders warned that if domestic food production is not addressed, Mexico will have "a national tragedy". Spanish original
*MV Note: A campesino is a person linked to the field (el campo) where crops are grown; before the Spanish, campesinos were highly esteemed as stewards of the land (Mother Earth) that produced the foods that sustained the community.