Strict coronavirus lockdowns in Guatemala and El Salvador have so battered local economies that hundreds of families are flying white flags outside their homes or waving them in the street: not in surrender, but to seek food and assistance.
Residents of the Las Victorias neighbourhood, most of them informal sellers, wave white flags as a sign asking for food, since the government suspended the movement of people due to the coronavirus disease outbreak, in Soyapango, El Salvador May 19, 2020. REUTERS/Victor Pena
“I go looking through the bins where the rubbish is,” the 51-year-old said. “I go to the Tiendona market to get stuff, because we really don’t have tomatoes or onions now, and we make a tomato stew here without oil, just parboiled.” Food protests have broken out in countries including Venezuela and Chile. El Salvador and neighboring Guatemala, two of the poorest countries in the Americas, have borne some of the strictest quarantine measures.
“We’re worried about the virus and food, because if the virus doesn’t kill us, hunger will,” said Jose Rodriguez, 69, a street vendor who lives in another San Salvador boarding house with 100 other people. “We desperately need things to eat.” Micaela Ventura, a 24-year-old shoe seller in Guatemala City, started using a flag about six weeks ago.
Guatemala has reported 45 deaths and 2,265 infections from the virus, while El Salvador has confirmed 32 fatalities and 1,640 cases. Neighboring Honduras, where the poor have also gone out to beg for food, has registered 3,100 cases and 151 deaths.Traditionally, those who see no future for themselves in the three countries, which have long been plagued by violence, have emigrated to the United States by any means possible.
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