The new president emphasized the problem of poverty in Honduras and detailed that about 70 percent of the population suffers from this problem. | Photo: La Prensa

Tegucigalpa, February 2 (RHC)-- Honduran Minister of the Secretariat of Development and Social Inclusion (Sedis), José Carlos Cardona, announced that among the first measures to be carried out by the new government will be to resume the Solidarity Network program, implemented during the mandate of former President Manuel Zelaya, which had a significant impact on the lives of the people.

This provision would eliminate the social programs implemented by former President Juan Orlando Hernandez named Vida Mejor (Better Life), which did not generate impact in the fight against poverty.

Cardona declared that a new social assistance program will be created and the one implemented by the outgoing government, which did not reduce poverty, will be eliminated.  Likewise, the new minister reported that the State allocated a budget of seven million lempiras (US $287,000) for these tasks.

The current President Xiomara Castro emphasized in her inauguration speech that nearly 70 percent of the Honduran population is in poverty.   The Red Solidaria program proposed by former president Manuel Zelaya in 2006 had the mission of benefiting close to 80,000 families living in extreme poverty.