Sant Pere Sula.
The Queen Letizia began its day yesterday with a meeting with officials of Spanish cooperation and several oenegés to learn about the situation in the country after the devastation which caused the passage of Hurricanes Eta and Iota in November.
The event took place in a hotel Sant Pere Sula before the queen’s meeting with the president Juan Orlando Hernández, and his wife, Ana García, to deliver the emergency material donated by Spain in the Central American country.
The meeting was attended by members of the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (Aecid) and of several oenegés, com Red Cross, Action against Hunger and Doctors of the World, who have been working on the emergency response to the years caused by the catastrophe in the Sula Valley.
The various aid workers exposed the effects that still persist of the passage of the two storms that keep about 100,000 people in shelters and in precarious tents on the boulevards of the roads.
The delegate of the Spanish Red Cross, Raúl Gutiérrez, lamented that the pandemic and other events, such as the elections in the United States, have “made invisible” the drama of the occurrence in Honduras.
“That is why it is good that the queen comes to give that support to the sacrifice and effort of the Spanish aid workers and, above all, to the Honduran people. Spain, as with Hurricane Mitch in 1998, is responding again, “said Gutierrez.
Doña Letizia, dressed in the red check of the Aecid, conveyed to the oenegats her gratitude for the attention paid to the victims who have seen their homes razed and during the pandemic.
Attention is urgent
The Spanish priest Patricio Larrosa, president of Collaboration and Effort Association, put the action in the situation of thousands of children who have seen their education interrupted.
“All of this is going to have very difficult consequences for them. Many children will have a lot of problems to start the course “, Larrosa will lament. Noelia Monge, of Action Against Hunger, agreed that the crisis of Honduras It calls for “greater attention” from the international community, despite the global coronavirus crisis.
“The support that is needed in Spain it cannot be compared to what Honduras needs. Not all countries have the same resources “, reflected Monge.
With Mrs. Letizia was the Spanish Secretary of State for International Cooperation, Ángeles Moreno.
Spain has given to Honduras a shipment of 120 tons of emergency equipment, including 24,000 rapid coronavirus screening test SARS-CoV-2 transported in the queen’s plane to alleviate the increase in infections due to the hacking of the displaced in the shelters. Honduras has been a priority destination for Spanish cooperation for years, with an agreement until 2023 it includes a global endowment of 215 million euros.
One of the areas where Spain will focus its efforts in the field of education, with immediate measures to rehabilitate the chosen donations and, in the medium and long term, with a pioneering digital education project to help students from families with fewer resources.