The Ministry of Public Health invited Monsignor Antonio Camilo, the bishop of La Vega, to give the sermon during the ceremonies marking World Food Day. The bishop said that there were many people in the Dominican Republic suffering from hunger and that every sector should do something to alleviate the situation. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations celebrates World Food Day on 16 October each year, the day in which the Organization was founded in 1945. The World Food Day and TeleFood theme for 2005, “Agriculture and intercultural dialogue”, recalls the contribution of different cultures to world agriculture and argues that sincere intercultural dialogue is a precondition for progress against hunger and environmental degradation. (FAO website: http://www.fao.org/wfd/2005/index.asp?lang=en ). Monsignor Camilo told his audience that the “government can do more, since sometimes it spends millions on projects that are not so necessary, it is a question of understanding that we are dying and the problems of hunger need to be tackled…”
According to the “Spy” column in Diario Libre, the invitation extended to Monsignor Camilo was the government’s way of “cooling things off”, especially after the monsignor’s sermon on 24 September in Santo Cerro, La Vega, which raised hackles among government officials. According to the paper, one observer noted that “You don’t fight with the priests, and it seems that the government has learned its lesson.”
On the same front pages that talk about Monsignor Camilo, the FAO is reporting that at least 25% of the Dominican population suffers from some form of malnutrition. Antonio Morales Mangual, the local FAO representative, told reporters that, in the region, Haiti, with 46% malnutrition is the worst case, followed by Nicaragua, Panama, and Guatemala. The Dominican Republic and Guatemala share the number four spot on the list of worst cases. Morales Mangual called for “a charge against hunger, until the numbers fall significantly.” Both the FAO and the Ministry of Agriculture are trying to implement sustainable agriculture programs in the rural areas.