Guatemala - Our banana buyers couldn't make it out of San Lucas Toliman today because of the mud conditions. That´s why some of you may have seen me a little hysterical today to meet payroll plus a retirement payment. Guess our compost will be a little high in potassium, since we will be adding three tons on chopped bananas next week. Silvia T, banana and coffee grower.
The entire country has been inundated with water. Rivers have jumped their banks, some 300 bridges have been taken out, and mudslides from flash floods have buried villages and made roads impassable leaving many communities completely cut off from the outside world.
Nearby Antigua, there are neighboring villages covered in some places by as much as 9 feet of mud. In San Miguel Escobar and Ciudad Vieja, neighbors of Antigua, a massive landslide has completely destroyed 61 homes, partially destroying countless others and displacing over 200 families. These communities, besides being coffee, macadamia and chocolate producers, also provide affordable housing for the service sector. The police can't come to work, and the shop-workers are stranded: this is a double-edged catastrophe. With over a hundred thousand displaced families, workers and children, with no means to rebuild their shattered lives and no way to go to work, this is a disaster of unimaginable proportions.
The government admits that the resources for rebuilding are nil. There are no programs for disaster relief. The scale of destruction is beyond comprehension, and all sectors of the socio-economic strata's have been affected. The poor, who comprise over fifty percent of the nation, are even worse off. The middle class, that thin sliver of emerging consumers, has seen their primary economic base of tourism cut off at the knees. A closed airport means no shuttles of tourists. A State Park that is one of the top tourist destinations is closed because of volcanic activity. Lake Atitlan, the crown jewel of Guatemala, is devastated by mudslides. A major hot springs destination, Georginas near Quetzaltenango, is damaged beyond repair. The list goes on. Roads and bridges are out. Entire crops that would have fed people or provided much needed foreign exchange are ruined. It's a simple equation: if you can't go to work to make money or if you can't export your produce, then what? How long can one wait for the government to repair the roads and bridges? Where do you stay and how do you find food, much less afford to buy it?
Foto Guatemalan Government
