Coronavirus worsens poverty in Central America

Audio 02:27

By: Alix Hardy Follow

In addition to slowing the economy, as in the whole world, the coronavirus pandemic has dried up the remittances of immigrant workers in the United States to their families who have remained in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.

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In Central America and Mexico, entire villages have been built on the remesas , these remittances to the country made by immigrant workers who left to seek better wages in the United States. But the pandemic has put many of them out of work.

José Cervantes heads the statistical department of the Center for Monetary Studies in Latin America. He explains that “  already in April, employment fell sharply in the United States. Almost two million Mexican immigrants have lost their jobs, for example. The sectors most affected were catering, hotels and construction, which employ a large number of immigrants.  "

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" They can no longer help their families "

Alexis Hernandez is Salvadoran. He has not stopped working in his abattoir in Colorado, because the agrifood sector is essential for the United States. But the bakery where his sister worked fired his employees at the start of the pandemic.

“  My sister lost her job at the bakery without any compensation. She has been unemployed for three months. She sent money to El Salvador, but there she can no longer,  ”says Alexis. “  I have friends who had good jobs, in restaurants, at McDonald's, but when you don't have papers, it's even easier to get fired. Now they sleep under the bridge, some have even sold their cars. What is happening to them is terrible and in addition, they can no longer help their families in El Salvador  .

A fifth of the economy of these countries relies on workers' savings

Since the start of the pandemic, remittances have dropped drastically - up to -40% in April in El Salvador. Money families on the ground need more than ever. “  In El Salvador at the moment many young people are out of work. There are people who had to sell everything they had, a fridge, land, a house to survive these four months of quarantine in the country,  ”explains Alexis. Then add: "  I sent money to friends in need, for their children, to take transport, but above all simply for shopping ...  "

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Workers' savings represent up to a fifth of the economy of these countries, insists economist José Cervantes. “  Remittances are crucial for these countries. In Guatemala this represents the equivalent of 10 % of GDP, in El Salvador and Honduras up to 20%, and in certain poor regions of Mexico it is 10, 11, 12 % of wealth. We are talking about millions of homes. The fall in these incomes looks drastic. Poverty will inevitably increase.  "

According to United Nations projections, the Covid-19 could plunge more than 29 million more people into poverty in Latin America.

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• Poverty
• Salvador
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