On World Humanitarian Day, the Salvadoran Association for Humanitarian Assistance PRO-VIDA honors the memory of men and women who gave their lives in the performance of humanitarian assistance. Medical professionals who in difficult moments during the armed conflict, despite the difficulties, provided assistance and protection to hundreds of  people who needed it, to all medical personnel who continue to do their work from the first line in these difficult times with the interest to save lives.

36 years after the founding of PRO-VIDA, it continues faithful to its mission promoting participatory processes in Integral Health, Risk Management and Resilience to Climate Change, Territorial Development, as well as Institutional Strengthening to improve the quality of life of the vulnerable population with a focus on law, gender, and different generations.

This year the COVID-19 pandemic has been one of the most complex challenges for humanitarian work around the world. The lack of access to essential services and the restrictions imposed by governments around the world have meant that those who have been at the forefront of the response are the communities, civil society, and local NGOs. PRO-VIDA emphasizes the work of community structures that are and continue working on the front line in all the communities of our country.

Through the Integral Health Program, PRO-VIDA serves communities in conditions of greater vulnerability, with an emphasis on children, women, and the elderly affected by confinement, in which the population becomes the victim of one of the worst pandemic in the world in the last hundred years. Each country suffers the pandemic according to the measures taken by its authorities and according to the capacity of its health system, recognizing that El Salvador has a very weak and collapsed health system, and need a specific strategy and plan to contain the contagion of the coronavirus.

As a humanitarian response and assistance, the organization has activated the medical and humanitarian response team to bring food, hygiene items, and necessities to the most vulnerable and low-income families, who do not have access to the health system and basic services. PRO-VIDA is taking up the experience of humanitarian assistance in crises to avoid more deaths due to lack of medical attention, lack of personal protective equipment, medicines, and medical personnel.

PRO-VIDA has launched the campaign "Supporting the struggle against COVID 19, for the life of the Medical personnel and COVID Positive Families", together with the SHARE Foundation and CARECEN LA to raise funds for the assistance of people affected by COVID 19 in El Salvador.  With the support of the international community that stands in solidarity through its contributions with medical personnel, patients from rural communities, the social movement, journalists, and independent health workers, families who have lost their jobs, and loved ones due to COVID-19.
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PRO-VIDA has delivered food kits, hygiene kits, and personal protection to families in various areas of the country, families in the most vulnerable communities to emergencies in the context of the pandemic, and the effects of storms Amanda and Cristóbal. PRO VIDA reaffirms on the World Humanitarian Day always be faithful to their mission of accompanying the most vulnerable populations, especially in the context of the COVID 19 pandemic. The reality in El Salvador represents a complex challenge for humanitarian operations, which reveals the enormous social inequality in the country, the violation of human rights, discrimination, and social exclusion that must be eradicated to achieve a more just society.
 
San Salvador, August 19, 2020

The monumental victory was the result of unparalleled levels of local organization, dedication and sacrifice. Speakers like ADES President, Vidalina Morales, recalled the costs incurred along the way, including the unresolved assassinations of four anti-mining activists in 2009. Morales reminded those present that “We cannot talk about the 25th anniversary of Radio Victoria and ADES, and our successes, without remembering Dora Sorto, Ramiro Rivera, Marcelo Rivera, who gave their lives for the defense of our environment and the right to life of current and future generations.”
 
Morales also noted “new threats on the horizon that put at risk democratic aspirations, social justice, and the search for an ecologically sustainable society for the Salvadoran people.” Chief among these is the continued struggle over El Salvador’s water resources.
 
El Salvador’s Political Water Crisis
Facing a dire water crisis, predicted to get worse with the effects of climate change, El Salvador remains one of few countries without a general water law. Following years of pressure from El Salvador’s Foro del Agua, an umbrella group of environmental social organizations including ADES, the Ministry of Environment (MARN) submitted a proposed General Water Law to congress in 2012.
 
But not withstanding general consensus on 92 articles of the proposed Water Law, and just three months after the metal mining ban passed, El Salvador’s conservative ARENA party proposed their own water law, with the technical guidance of El Salvador’s National Association of Private Companies (ANEP). The regulatory entity of the ARENA/ANEP law consists of one executive representative, 2 representatives of COMURES (an ARENA dominated group of mayors) and 2 representatives of ANEP. While ARENA claims that their law is not privatization, a growing portion of Salvadoran civil society is concerned that putting water regulation under the decision-making power of private interests would be a de facto privatization.
 
In contrast, a counter water proposal presented by the Universidad Centro America Simeón Cañas (UCA) also in 2017, with supported by the Catholic Church, places regulatory control firmly in the hands of the state.
 
The ARENA controlled congress has momentarily cast aside MARN’s General Water Law in favor of their own. However, despite having the necessary votes to pass it into law, a wave of social protest regarding “who decides” about water regulation has since exploded as a point of contention on the national political agenda.
 
Rallies, marches, and public forums organized by students of the public University of El Salvador (UES), environmental groups, and labor unions have filled the streets of San Salvador. Protestors have taken over highways and airwaves of public and mainstream news outlets. The recurring demand is “no to the privatization of water” and no to the incorporation of ANEP in the regulating body.

In his comments to those gathered in Victoria’s public square, Oscar Beltran, director of Radio Victoria, promised that, “Just like we did with the mining issue, we will assume the challenge against the privatization of water.” Later on, a community performance group reiterated this stance. The actors depicted ANEP’s attempt to commodify water (depicted by a suited man slapping a dollar sign on a young woman dressed in a water costume) and the power of an organized community to protect their “human right to water”.
 
Mining, Water and Community Organization
On June 5th, roughly two weeks before the 25th anniversary celebration in Victoria, ADES invited communities to commemorate the 9th anniversary of Marcelo Rivera’s martyrdom for defending the human right to water against transnational mining interests. On another hot Salvadoran morning, hundreds of people gathered in San Isidro’s central park for the event, titled, “Exigimos el Derecho Humano al Agua, No a la Propuesta Privatizadora de la ANEP” (“We demand the Human Right to Water, No to the Privatization Proposal of ANEP”). ​

The events speakers included the Monseñor José Elías Rauda, Bishop of San Vicente, Ana Milagro Guevara, the Environmental Secretary General of the Ombudswoman of Human Rights, Omar Serrano, the Vice Rector of the UCA, and Ms. Morales from ADES. They spoke of water as a human right that supports all other human rights—including health, food, sanitation. They spoke against the privatization of a resource so vital to life. They also spoke of the power and necessity of the people to stand up for those rights at all costs.
 
Morales echoed these sentiments again this past Saturday. In reference to Marcelo and the other martyrs who stood against mining, she stated, “They will always be an example to follow.” An example that demonstrates that “only with organization and popular struggle do we guarantee the defense of our inalienable rights and interests as working people.”
 
J. Alejandro Artiga-Purcell is a PhD candidate at the University of California, Santa Cruz department of Environmental Studies. 
 
Sources:
 
http://www.adessantamarta.sv/en-us/
 
http://www.eldiariodehoy.com/noticias/nacional/86395/arena-pide-reforma-por-el-derecho-a-tener-agua-potable/
 
https://www.elsalvador.com/noticias/nacional/185337/el-gobierno-reconoce-la-crisis-del-agua-potable-y-decreta-medidas-de-emergencia/
 
https://www.ethicsandinternationalaffairs.org/2017/historic-wins-democracy-rights-el-salvador/
 
https://www.laprensagrafica.com/elsalvador/El-debate-por-la-ley-de-agua-todo-lo-que-un-salvadoreno-debe-saber-al-respecto-20180711-0095.html
 
https://nacla.org/news/salvadoran-anti-mining-activists-risk-their-lives-taking-‘free-trade’
 
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/29/world/americas/el-salvador-prizing-water-over-gold-bans-all-metal-mining.html
 
http://www.radiovictoriaes.org
 
https://www.transparenciaactiva.gob.sv/universidad-de-el-salvador-anuncia-nueva-marcha-en-contra-de-la-privatizacion-del-agua
 
https://www.transparenciaactiva.gob.sv/universidad-de-el-salvador-anuncia-nueva-marcha-en-contra-de-la-privatizacion-del-agua
 
https://www.transparenciaactiva.gob.sv/asamblea-inicia-analisis-y-aprobacion-de-articulos-de-propuesta-de-ley-de-aguas-de-anep

http://upsidedownworld.org/archives/el-salvador/water-wars-el-salvador-social-movements-resist-water-privatization/
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This was an experience like I have never had before. I have been to El Salvador many times over the past number of years. In the past I have been privileged to be part of house building, youth centre construction, water projects and many different ventures. This year I was given the opportunity to be part of an election observation delegation with Share. Share took very good care of us while we were in El Salvador, from transportation from the airport to the election training we required, right down to the smallest details. I saw a part of El Salvador that I hadn’t seen before.
We were part of an exciting “rally” in the streets of Tecoluca, where we saw what some would say was the passion or dedication that political party affiliation might bring out in people. We had the opportunity to meet with people from different communities we visited and heard the different stories people wanted to share with us. I thank Jose for the opportunity, I thank Sophia for her organizational skills and Claudia and Anabell for their skillful logistics in country. For those considering working with Share, from my experience, they are a great organization to work with. May my God continue to with and through this organization.
Respectfully,
El Salvador Bill   ​