| | |  News Around the Republic of Mexico | September 2009 
Calderon Speaks on Alleviating Poverty
 Presidencia de la República
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September 04, 2009
| | The world economic crisis has affected the income of Mexican families, particularly those with least. | |
I know that the poorest Mexicans live mainly around major cities and in the country's rural and indigenous areas, such as the Sierra Tarahumara, Los Altos de Chiapas, La Montaña de Guerrero, La Huasteca and La Mixteca.
And I also know that their greatest concern is for their children to have what is indispensable, such as education, health and food.
And to meet this demand, it is very important to take support to the places where they live.
The Federal Government Oportunidades Program is supporting the poorest households in the country with grants, school supplies, health services, food supplements for children and expectant mothers and above all, financial assistance for these difficult times, to ensure that they have food on the table.
As a result of all this support, every family in Oportunidades receives between 500 and over 2000 pesos a month. And this year, the Program is expanding its coverage to urban zones.
Through this, Oportunidades supports 5,200,000 families, in other words, 26 million Mexicans receive support from Oportunidades; one out of every four, particularly the poorest, have access to this Federal Government program.
And together with Oportunidades, there are new programs that benefit those most in need, many of whom are indigenous people.
For example, we are supporting senior citizens. Through the 70 and Over Program, we give 500 pesos a month to over two million people over the age of 70 that live in the most remote parts of Mexico. In just two years, the number of beneficiaries in the Senior Citizens' program has doubled.
Another strategy is the 100 Per Cent Strategy, whereby we look after the most marginalized municipalities. Thus, for example, we have opened up country roads, improved schools and clinics, built networks of potable water and taken electricity and drainage to the 125 poorest municipalities in Mexico.
For example, we built a road that will enable the inhabitants of Hueytlalpan, a little village in the Sierra Norte in Puebla to reach Zapotitlán de Méndez in 15 minutes, rather than in an hour, which it took them before.
This facilitates trade and access to services and also helps children to get to school, because the inter-mountain road now goes through Zapotitlán, which links up the larger communities.
We are also helping the poorest families that used to have dirt floors in their homes. What we are doing is laying cement floors to enable them to live better.
We have already replaced dirt floors with cement floors in over 800,000 households, particularly in rural zones. Through this, many families in the Meseta Purépecha or the Sierra de Zongolica, or the El Nayar zone, which are indigenous regions, have improved their health, their children's hygiene and their living conditions.
Our aim is for there to be no more houses with dirt floors by the end of this administration. We want all Mexicans homes to have Cement Floors to Live Better.
Thus, through the Environmental Service Payment Program, we are providing financial support for indigenous communities to enable them to take care of the forests and woods where they live. Over the past three years, half a million indigenous people have received support in exchange for looking after the forest they inhabit.
Another important program is helping the women in the country, particularly single mothers, to work and boost the family income. We know that one of their main problems is that they have nowhere to leave their children.
Thanks to the establishment of 8,400 Daycare Centers, today, over 210,000 women, the mothers of nearly a quarter of a million children, can be sure that their children are safe and being well looked after, which has enabled them to look for or hold down a job to increase their income.
It is important to note that these daycare centers are providing work for over 40,000 women. They are teachers, social workers or simply mothers who did not have work and we have helped them set up Daycare Centers in their own homes.
Federal Government is working for people, particularly the poorest.
Living Better is the Federal Government Social Policy that is contributing to the enormous effort made every day by millions of workers and peasants to live better. We are therefore advancing towards a Mexico with equal opportunities and one that is fairer.
With everyone’s efforts, we will be able to pull through to live better. |
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