Las Margaritas, Chiapas, 21 January 2013.

“It is time to move Mexico in order to deal with poverty and hunger,” declared President Enrique Peña Nieto at the start of the National Crusade against Hunger.

After signing the decree establishing the National System against Hunger, President Enrique Peña Nieto explained that the Crusade will be a permanent effort undertaken by the administration over the next six years. He urged all of society to “join this great cause for all the Mexicans who, it must be said, live in hunger in our country.”

Hunger is perhaps a truth that is ignored by men. Some are unaware of its and others perhaps do not accept while still others do not even dare mention it,” declared the president. “We have to admit the fact that in the 21st century, Mexico’s population includes a million Mexicans who lack the necessary food and therefore live in poverty and hunger,” he added.

Accompanied by his wife Angélica Rivera de Peña, the president said that this is the painful truth of 21st century Mexico. “We are therefore all called to be part of a shared effort to reverse this scenario and condition.”

It is a painful condition which we find difficult to acknowledge in the 21st century: one out of every four Mexicans experiences some degree of food shortage,” he explained.

After recalling the fact that one of his first decisions was to order the implementation of the National Crusade against Hunger, the president explained that this is one of the government’s initiatives with the greatest social content. The Crusade, he explained, will begin by attending the 7.4 million Mexicans who suffer the dual burden of extreme poverty and severe food shortages.

After explaining that few things are as worrisome for parents as not having enough to feed their children, the president said that,” There is nothing worse for a nation’s development than failing to feed its children properly during the first few years of their lives.”

President Peña Nieto said that food is a universally acknowledged human right, established in Article 4 of the Constitution. However, he admitted that, “It is a right that has not been fully materialized for all Mexicans.”

Addressing the members of the Legal Cabinet, state governors and the Mayor of Mexico City, the president explained that the point is to move the whole government, all the orders of government and all the government’s programs; to move their budgets in order to attend Mexicans in the greatest need.

The president declared that this crusade is not a welfare measure. The point is not to distribute food among those who need it; it is an integral strategy of inclusion and social wellbeing that involves a structural change in the alleviation of poverty.”

He declared that the Crusade is a new generation social strategy, because it will increase the productive inclusion of its beneficiaries, “In other words, those who receive support today will be able to emerge from poverty in the future, by increasing their incomes as productive individuals.”

The president explained that the National Crusade against Hunger has four characteristics: a focused orientation, in which efforts will be concentrated in the most critical localities of the 400 municipalities with a high incidence of extreme poverty and food shortages; joint responsibility by all departments and local governments in a strategy that combines efforts by all the sectors in Public Administration in order to ensure health, education, housing, a better economy and basic services such as water, electricity and drainage in those 400 municipalities which will be a priority.

The third characteristic is that the crusade is a social strategy that boosts the productive capacities of the areas with the greatest marginalization and poverty and the fourth is that it involves the community and social power of all Mexicans.

At the event, he explained that he has instructed the Secretariat of Social Development to coordinate the efforts of Public Administration in order to achieve broad social participation; organize food banks and donations; establish a voluntary work fund for those who wish to devote part of their time to the National Crusade against Hunger and work with specialists in food, nutrition and poverty to ensure that the Crusade is aligned with the Zero Hunger Program organized by the United Nations.

“Let us all participate in this great social cause because it is, I insist, an ethical obligation, particularly for those of us with public responsibility; millions of Mexicans are waiting for us,” explained President Peña Nieto.

THE NATIONAL CRUSADE WILL ALIGN 70 FEDERAL PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
PROGRAMS: ROSARIO ROBLES.

Secretary of Social Development Rosario Robles explained that the Crusade is an integral strategy designed for Mexicans with at least 6 social shortages. The program will require the coordinated action of various government offices and will align budgetary resources from over 70 Federal Public Administration Programs. A National Council for the Crusade against Hunger will be created as an inclusive organization for dialogue and the construction of agreements between the public, private and social sectors.

After declaring that indicators will be established to measure impact and progress, the President explained that as a result of the dialogue with governors, mayors, the Mayor of Mexico City and the mayors of Mexico City boroughs, integral agreements will be signed for inclusive development that will define the strategies to be implemented in each of the states as well as clear, precise goals. If necessary, mistakes will be corrected.

THE CRUSADE MATERIALIZES POLITICAL AND SOCIAL AGREEMENTS: CÉSAR DUARTE

On behalf of the country’s governors, Governor of Chihuahua and President of the National Conference of Governors César Duarte Jáquez hailed the impact of the Crusade against Hunger in Chiapas, a sign, “That the inclusive Mexico is starting off in the right place.” He added that the Crusade materializes the political and social pacts and agreements of the government.

“We must replace the Mexico we have with the Mexico we deserve,” he explained, adding that this Crusade and the model of coordination and collaboration on which is it built send a clear message that the country’s social development is being radically reformed.

“HUNGER CANNOT WAIT” MANUEL VELASCO COELLO

Manuel Velaso, governor of Chiapas, said that the National Crusade against Hunger, organized by President Peña Nieto is a monumental task that unites all Mexicans beyond ideology and party affiliations. “All of us, without exception, are obliged to promote social policy in order to eradicate the lags that harm the millions of Mexicans that lack the most essential items: hunger cannot wait.”