With TV cameras and journalists crowded around, organizations fighting for the right to food and water in El Salvador and their international allies delivered a letter to the Legislative and Constitutional Committee of the country's Legislative Assembly this morning calling for the approval of a constitutional reform to enshrine the right to food and water in the nation's Magna Carta.

The letter, which you can download in English and Spanish, was signed by 136 organizations from 18 countries; the signatories included environmental, religious, labor, family farmer, development and solidarity organizations as well as groups representing immigrants and Salvadorans living abroad.

After delivering the letter, in a press conference outside the legislative assembly, Kristi Van Nostran of Uniting Hands Against Hunger in El Salvador said, "We are calling on all the parties in the Legislative Assembly to recognize the will of the Salvadoran people, and we urge them to listen to the people and establish a legal guarantee for the right to food and water for all."

The proposed reform, which would require the State enact laws and policies to ensure people's right to clean and sufficient water and adequate, nutritious food, was approved in 2012 by the previous legislature, but must be ratified by the current legislature by April 30th in order to take effect. But right-wing parties linked to the country's economic elite and transnational corporations are blocking it. El Salvador's Environmental Alliance, a broad-based coalition, is engaged in an intense campaign to make sure the reform is approved and called on international organizations to support their work.

Read the press release here and see more photos from the letter delivery and the press conference here.

This letter was printed as a full page ad in El Salvador's biggest newspaper on April 20th - check it out!