This Tuesday, a group of 50 Salvadorans are leaving for Vancouver, Canada, to work in agriculture, as part of the labor migration program.

In the coming days, another group of 50 people who make up the contingent will move, according to the Minister of Labor, Rolando Castro.

“I am happy to go to work in Canada because here we do not earn anything. In agriculture it is very difficult, the salary is low, agriculture here is not profitable”, declared Pablo Antonio Aguillón Romero, who is 43 years old and is from the Buenos Aires canton of San Pedro Perulapán, in the department of Cuscatlán.

The farmer was chosen to work in the labor migration program in Canada through a selection process in which he must meet various requirements, including having experience in the field and not having criminal record.

“It’s a process. I came to fill out the paperwork and thank God I was selected. I’m going to Vancouver, Canada. We’re going to work in agriculture and that’s the experience we have, because I planted corn, beans, vegetables and others,” said Aguillón Romero.

“We are looking for a better opportunity.” Hundreds of Salvadorans are looking for jobs in Canada

The farmer has two daughters, a 22-year-old studying communications at university and a 15-year-old daughter. Her dream is that with this job opportunity, she can buy land and continue to support her daughters in their education.

“Nothing is easy here, but a lot of effort is needed. With this opportunity, my goal is to buy land and help my daughters with their studies,” said Aguillón Romero.

According to Minister Castro, the contingent includes Salvadorans from all over the country. Among them is José Manuel Flores Flores, a native of Nombre de Jesús, in Chalatenango, 26 years old. Flores said he was leaving with the aim of giving his wife and two young children, aged 5 and 2, a better life.

“There I will go to work in the cherry harvest, and I have experience, because here I worked in agriculture. I feel happy, it is a great blessing to have this opportunity and I want to go and do my best and that they see that we Salvadorans are able to work with everything and also support my family,” said Flores.

Some 250 Salvadorans will leave in another work contingent to different destinations in June

As Castro explained, Canada gave them a work visa that was valid for two years, but the companies that hire them for different terms.

Flores Flores, for example, explained that they had informed him that initially he was only leaving for six weeks, but that he would like to stay longer, because in El Salvador he earns very little money.

“I would like us to stay working longer because here in agriculture there is little income, the salary is very low and the inputs are very expensive, because my plots of maize and beans cannot provide the necessary inputs at the harvest because the salary is not enough,” said the chalateco.

Castro also said the selected Salvadorans had nothing to spend on the travel ticket.