Spain to Contribute $58.6 Million for Guatemala Reconstruction

GUATEMALA CITY – Spain will contribute a total of $58.6 million for Guatemalan reconstruction over the next two years, Madrid’s secretary of state for international cooperation said Tuesday.
 
“We are supporting this project because we consider it important and because the plan is worth it,” Soraya Rodríguez said in her speech at the final phase of the International Conference for the Reconstruction and Transformation of Guatemala.
 
“We strongly support this plan, but we ask Guatemala to make a national effort, with contributions provided by the Guatemalans themselves,” the Spanish official said.
 
Guatemala has been struck this year by a series of natural disasters, including a volcanic eruption, a tropical storm and weeks of torrential rains that caused serious damage to the economy and infrastructure, while taking the lives of 274 people.
 
Of the $58.6 million offered by Spain for the reconstruction of this Central American country, $3.7 million will go to housing construction, while some $2.2 million will be channeled through the United Nations Children’s Fund to finance programs to fight juvenile malnutrition.