San Salvador – Scores of Salvadoran street vendors marched on Wednesday to the Spanish Embassy in this capital to urge Spain to stop funding an urban renewal plan in San Salvador that the the merchants say is jeopardizing their livelihoods.
A delegation of the vendors delivered a letter addressed to Ambassador Jose Javier Gomez-Llera saying that the San Salvador municipal administration is "misusing" aid from the government of the Spanish region of Andalusia.
The money is being spent "to the detriment of the neediest families in our country, such as we vendors who daily earn our livelihoods on the streets," according to the missive.
The Andalusian government agreed to help finance a street improvement project in downtown San Salvador, but the request for aid did not mention dislodging the vendors.
Merchants leader Pedro Julio Hernandez told reporters the protest was not aimed at the Spanish or Andalusian governments.
"We brought him (the ambassador) a letter in the most respectful terms possible," Hernandez said. "Our concern is not that we're against the support from his government, which we very much appreciate, but the use we perceive the (San Salvador) city government is making of it."
Municipal authorities have dislodged dozens of vendors who set up their stands on streets in the capital's downtown area, provoking a series of protests.
On Sunday, police dismantled 201 sales stands in an operation that left 26 people injured and five in custody.
The Catholic Church and the National Ombud's Office have offered to mediate between the vendors and the municipal government.
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