This is the testimony of one of our partners, Noé Ramirez, General Secretary of SITRABI (Del Monte Banana Workers' Union): "I'm writing to tell you that we're very worried about our future, because Tropical Storm Agatha has caused the River Motagua to burst its banks and nine communities and large swathes of the Bandegua (Del Monte) banana plantations have been completely flooded. At the moment total chaos reigns as workers and their families were unable to take any of their belongings with them and have lost everything. There are also food shortages and the government is in no position to deal with all those affected because the crisis is right across the country. The water is beginning to go down, but there were still workers on the roofs of their houses this morning. The company has contracted a rescue helicopter. We are still not sure what will happen to our jobs in the plantations, but the farms certainly look badly affected."
bananalink org