The Role of Food Banks in Addressing Hunger in Latin America

Photo: Plataforma de Seguridad Alimentaria y Nutricional

By Sabrina Hernández
In recent years, Latin America has become a leader in the fight against hunger and has worked to formulate plans that aim to achieve lofty goals such as the eradication of hunger in the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) region by 2025. We covered this  (NotiSur, May 30, 2014).

In a NotiSur article in February 2016, Johanna Marris wraps up her otherwise entirely optimistic synopsis of the progress made to reduce hunger rates in  half in Latin America with a pragmatic tone. She cautions, however, that all of the aforementioned progress in the region as well as future progress is largely dependent upon continued dedication from political leadership and the changing economic conditions.

Some organizations like the Plataforma de Seguridad Alimentaria y Nutricional (SAN) contend that Latin America produces enough food to feed the entire population of the region. "More than half of the agricultural imports in Latin America come from outside the region, illustrating the potential for trade in food and agriculture within the region," said (SAN). \

The question of global policies on agriculture are also very relevant for Latin America.  With the US and the world waiting for the dust to settle from a contentious presidential campaign--and an unforeseen victory by a candidate known to exploit fear and completely lacking in any prior political experience--one has to wonder what the future holds in regards to the glorious strides Latin America has made to tackle hunger in the region.

Setting aside concerns about the future of agricultural trade policies and the potential for a protectionist and punitive administration, countries in Latin America are doing what they can to try to feed people within their borders. In the Nov. issue of SourcMex, we published an article about the emergence of food banks in urban communities throughout Mexico. In this week’s blog post, I’d like to examine the role of  food banks  in several Latin American countries.

Nicaragua 
It might be especially useful to know what Nicaragua is doing to combat hunger within its borders. While the country is one of poorest in Central America, it is also one of the least violent.  The main food distribution efforts are led by Caritas Nicaragua, which operates under an Church-based ideology of servitude to the most vulnerable with society, specifically, children, seniors, sick, and families in extreme poverty. The food bank collects goods from private companies, businesses, and individuals. Donations are later organized and distributed to vulnerable people through community kitchens, hospitals, home visits, school, and rehabilitation centers. With a background in coffee importing, what is salient to me is that Caritas has locations established in the prominent coffee producing regions of the country – undoubtedly a much needed safety net when market volatility inevitably renders small, rural producers incapable of garnering a profit.

Guatemala
This is another coffee producing country that also finds its agrarian population subject to the fluctuations of a market over which it has no control, Banco de Alimentos de Guatemala is a private-sector civil association that works to obtain and distribute food donations to hungry communities in Guatemala.  The majority the donations the food banks receives comes from large corporations. Whether these corporations are acting out of genuine good will or seeking to rectify decades of egregious bad karma, Banco de Alimentos puts their donations to use by serving 56 organizations that represent 11 departments within the country. Through the delivery of groceries and other basic necessities to families, Banco de Alimentos serves 23,000 people monthly.

Dominican Republic 
With an estimated 15% of Dominicans suffering from some degree of hunger, Banco de Alimentos de la Republica Dominicana, founded in 1967, is a non-profit that is dedicated to alleviating hunger by making use of what, in other circumstances, might be considered food waste. El Banco collects and distributes large quantities of food in good condition that cannot be commercially sold for one reason or another. Their goals are two fold; to reduce waste and to reduce hunger.

Argentina 
The Argentine branch of Banco de Alimentos operates throughout the country and primarily works in collaboration with community kitchens. Through the connections with these 750 community kitchens, Banco de Alimentos estimates that some 100,000 people are served every year. The food bank also processed an estimated 4 million kilograms of food in 2015. Banco de Alimentos Argentina is able to serve such a large population because it is run by close to 7,000 volunteers.

Chile 
Banco Alimentos Chile is a nongovernmental organization that was founded in 2003. The goal of the food bank is to collect surplus food production and distribute it to organizations that work with poor and hungry populations at a local level. The food bank engages in a variety of food fundraisers including a race that brought in 1,300 kilos (2,866 lbs) of food that was distributed to different organizations that  benefit from Banco Alimentos Chile.

The stories are similar in other countries in Latin America.  Here are links to national or municipal food banks in the region.

Brazil – Banco de Alimentos Brasil
Colombia – Banco de Alimentos de Bogota
Costa Rica – Banco de Alimentos de Costa Rica
Ecuador – Banco de Alimentos de Quito
El Salvador – Banco de Alimentos de El Salvador
Honduras – Banco de Alimentos de Honduras
Panama – Banco de Alimentos de Panama
Paraguay – Banco de Alimentos de Paraguay
Peru – Banco de Alimentos de Peru
Uruguay – Banco de Alimentos de Uruguay

Dirty Campaign Tactics, A Repressive Leader, A Corrupt Governor, and Mayors Who Can't Read

"[Ex-President Álvaro] Uribe was a no-show when called upon by legal authorities to produce the evidence he claimed to have against President Juan Manuel Santos. Obliged to retract his accusations, he used an odd argument that was unbefitting an ex-president and practicing lawyer. 'I checked the dictionary and must say now that there is a difference between evidence and information. What I have is information,' said Uribe, who has since dropped the subject entirely."   -from NotiSur, July 4, 2014

Colombia's former President Álvaro Uribe claimed to have proof that President Juan Manuel Santos

Caricature of a "ward heeler" politician (Wikimedia Commons)

had accepted US$2 million in donations from drug traffickers to cover costs of his reelection campaign. When asked to provide proof of his allegation, Uribe backed down from the statement.  And yet, even if untrue, the comments from Uribe were a matter of public record. The statement had the potential to sway voters in a tight runoff election between Santos and Uribe-backed candidate Óscar Iván Zuluaga. In the end, they didn't make a difference, as Santos won the runoff election by seven percentage points. Andrés Gaudín tells us more about the Colombian election in this week's edition of NotiSur. 

A second article in NotiSur looks at the impact of political consultants on high-profile elections in Latin America. The dirty tactics employed by these consultants have generally benefited candidates who lean to the right politically (Carlos Menem of Argentina, Henrique Capriles of Venezuela, Porfirio Lobo of Honduras, Norman Quijano in El Salvador, and León Febres Cordero of Ecuador), but a couple of leftists (Andrés Manuel López Obrador in Mexico and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Brazil) have also made use of their services.  Click here to read more

Crackdown in Haiti
In other issues covered by the LADB this week, we also deal with politically tainted personalities and institutions. An article from George Rodríguez examines how a lack of judicial independence has resulted in a weak judiciary across Central America. A second article in NotiCen discusses the repressive tactics of President Michael Martelly's administration in Haiti, and how the leader is now viewed as a dictator.

In Mexico, scandal continues to dog the governor's office in Michoacán state. Gov. Fausto Vallejo was forced to resign after the release of several photographs of his son meeting with notorious drug trafficker Servando Gómez Martínez, also known as La Tuta. The release of the photos came just weeks after Vallejo’s top aide, and former interim governor, Jesús Reyna García, was arrested on charges of collusion with the Caballeros Templarios. Other elected leaders, primarily mayors in poor rural areas in Mexico, have a different kind of problem. They cannot read or write. (By some estimates, 20% of the mayors in the state of Oaxaca are illiterate). An article in this week's issue of SourceMex looks at the problem of illiteracy in Mexico, and how there has been very little progress in solving the problem in recent years.

Read two reports from Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on Literacy in Mexico. Education Policy Outlook: Mexico and Programa Internacional para la Evaluación de Alumnos (PISA 2012)

-Carlos Navarro

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Judicial Independence Under Attack in Guatemala

"This jeopardizes judicial independence and the rule of law. It means that anyone can, without grounds, accuse a judge to avoid being prosecuted. This opens the door to impunity and corruption. … Judicial independence is a guarantee, more than for the judge, it is a guarantee for Guatemalans to be able to depend on honorable and dignified judges."  -Guatemalan Judge Yassmín Barrios

Photo by Nerun (Wikimedia Commons)

Judge Yassmín Barrios has presided over some of Guatemala’s most sensitive cases, such as the trial of the Army officers accused of murdering Bishop Juan Gerardi in 2001, the Dos Erres massacre case and a number of high-profile cases involving gangs and drug cartels.

One of her most recent cases involved the trial of former dictator Gen. Efraín Ríos Montt (1982-1983), who faced charges of genocide and crimes against humanity. Although Ríos Montt was found guilty in 2013, the Corte de Constitucionalidad (CC), under pressure from Guatemala’s conservative business establishment, controversially overturned the verdict.

 Local and international human rights organizations strongly condemned the reversal and have argued that it runs contrary to the principle of judicial independence.

And the concept of judicial independence also came under attack with an action directed against Barrios herself. In April of this year, the Tribunal de Honor of the Colegio de Abogados y Notarios de Guatemala (CANG) temporarily suspended the judge from practicing law for one year and ordered her to pay a US$650 fine. The tribunal's decision was based on a complaint filed by attorney Moisés Galindo, defense counsel for José Mauricio Rodríguez, director of intelligence under the Ríos Montt regime and his co-accused in the genocide trial.

Barrios appealed the suspension, and a few weeks later, the Asamblea de los Presidentes de los Colegios Profesionalesr uled that Judge Barrios had acted wrongly by ordering Galindo to represent Ríos Montt but that the alleged misdemeanor was not serious enough to require her suspension and resolved that both the fine and the suspension should be revoked. Read more from Louisa Reynolds in this week's issue of NotiCen.

NGOs Weigh In
Is the legal system in Guatemala (and elsewhere in Central America) too politicized?  At a hearing held by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) on the politicization of judicial branches in Central America, the petitioner from Guatemala argued that the upper level courts in the regions are influenced by political party interests as a result of the political commitments judges assume when appointed because the legislature appoints upper level judges in most countries. The criteria that the legislature uses are not based on a judge’s judicial record but on their political allegiance.

Some organizations like Impunity Watch (IW) suggest that problems with the judicial system in Guatemala are compounded by systemic flaws. It is well known that the design of the justice system in Guatemala has flaws that favour impunity. Some initiatives for reforming justice in stitutions have been promoted by national and international, state and non-state act ors. Initiatives for constitutional reform have focused on two major areas: improving the Guat emalan justice institutions and improving the domestic legal provisions by correcting loopholes, as well as changing troublesome laws.  Read IW's full brief posted in March 2013.

Other articles in the Latin America Data Base newsletters for May 28-30 address two livestock-related issues.  In Cuba, the livestock industry is in disarray, and in Mexico, a deadly virus has been detected among hog herds in 17 states. Poverty is a theme in three other articles. In Mexico, the Catholic Church is challenging President Enrique Peña Nieto's administration to ensure reforms benefit the poorest segments of the population.  In Peru, expatriates are helping support the economy with remittances. Elsewhere in South America, the countries of the Southern Cone have done a good job in reducing hunger and poverty, according to experts from several multilateral institutions.

 -Carlos Navarro
 


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Rio’s Favelas See Uptick in Violence

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Article from NotiSur, May 9

For decades, the favelas of Rio de Janeiro have suffered the stigma of violence as their residents suffered in the crosshairs of the armed conflict between government security forces and narco-trafficking organizations. In recent years, that situation has improved significantly with the implementation of the Unidade de Polícia Pacificadora (UPP) program, which invades favelas with overwhelming military force to evict drug gangs and then installs a permanent police presence. However, a late April incident in which a dancer on a popular television program and resident of the Pavão-Pavãozinho favela, near Copacabana, died in UPP custody is only the latest in a string of high-profile cases that have cast serious doubts about the efficacy, transparency, and legality of the military police in Rio de Janeiro state, which manage and staff the UPP program. Gregory Scruggs Read More

TB Outbreak in Argentine Sweatshops

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Article from NotiSur, March 14

Tuberculosis, a disease linked with poverty that had been under control in Argentina since the early part of the last century, has reappeared with a vengeance in the country’s capital. As before, the outbreak appeared in clandestine sweatshops that make high-fashion, expensive clothing. Paradoxically, the city that is a South American cultural Mecca with the highest rates of human development also has the country’s highest pollution levels. After reading files from the state Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA) and the four main public hospitals where infectious diseases are treated, Prosecutor Federico Delgado criticized Buenos Aires, pointing out that its tuberculosis (TB) index increased 25% (from 26.5 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in 1985 to 33 cases in 2011) in the Argentine capital, while the national TB index dropped by 39% for the same 26-year period. Andrés Gaudín Read More

Poverty, Migration in Honduras; NAFTA's 20th Birthday; Military Attacks Small-Scale Miners in Ecuador

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Articles in SourceMex, NotiCen and NotiSur for January 8-10

NAFTA Completes 20 Years of Existence with Mixed Results

On Jan. 1, 2014, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) completed 20 years of existence, amid varying opinions on whether the agreement has been good for Mexico. The agreement has certainly brought significant benefits for a segment of the population, primarily middle class and wealthy Mexicans. Critics suggest the agreement has personally not benefited the majority of Mexicans. The question after two decades is whether on balance the benefits of the agreement outweigh its negative aspects, including reducing tariffs that severely harmed producers of corn and other important agricultural commodities and derailed Mexico’s efforts to attain self-sufficiency in food production. -Carlos Navarro  Read More

An Unstoppable Tide of Femicides in Dominican Republic

Femicide in the Dominican Republic is a serious problem that the authorities have failed to address. According to recent reports, the Caribbean country has the third-highest femicide rate in Latin America. In 2011, 230 femicides were recorded, according to the Procuraduría General de la República (PGR), which compiles statistics from the police as well as the Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Forenses (INACIF). In 2012, 103 femicides were reported, and, during the first half of 2013, 140 Dominican women died as a result of acts of violence, a figure that includes 69 cases recorded as femicides. -Crosby Girón   Read More

Ecuadoran Government Alleges Mafia Involvement In Small-Scale Mining

Early last November, an incident between a military platoon and Shuar communities living on the banks of the Río Zamora, in southern Ecuador’s Amazon region, resulted in the death of an indigenous man named Freddy Taish. Later that same day, in a nationwide broadcast, the government blamed the incident on foreign "mafias" involved in arms and drugs trafficking and money laundering. Authorities say the outside criminal groups have infiltrated the Zamora area’s artisan (small-scale) mining industry. Artisan mining is a subsistence activity traditionally carried out by local indigenous and campesino communities. Domingo Ancuash, a longtime Shuar leader, believes the crackdown resulted from his community's vocal opposition to mining concessions granted in the region to multinational mining interests. - Luis Ángel Saavedra    Read More

Tens of Thousands of Undocumented Hondurans Caught and Deported in 2013

Migrating to the US in search of finding the opportunity they lack in their country to overcome their dire socioeconomic situation is nothing new to Hondurans. Neither is the risk of being caught along the lengthy, perilous way and sent back. Some 74,000 undocumented Hondurans were deported last year, marking an abrupt end--however calculated the risk--to their quest for labor opportunities and improved income to support their families back home. -George Rodríguez   Read More

Venezuela’s Chavistas Gain Strength; Opposition Split After Elections

Following municipal elections Dec. 8 in which Venezuela’s governing party confirmed its political primacy, the right-wing opposition is reconsidering a strategy that set Henrique Capriles up as the leader of the Mesa de Unidad Democrática (MUD). During the past five years, the opposition had focused its efforts on Capriles, a task that was not always easy. Voter turnout in the municipal elections reached a record of nearly 60%, with the governing Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela (PSUV) winning 79% of the mayoral races in 337 municipalities. The ruling party had nearly 5.2 million votes while the opposition’s total came in a little under 4.1 million. Although not directly comparable, the gap between December municipal elections and the April presidential contest increased by nearly 1.1 million votes. -Andrés Gaudín    Read More

Telecommunications Regulator Announces Auction of Television Frequencies

When President Enrique Peña Nieto and the Congress proposed comprehensive changes to the telecommunications sector in 2013, they promised to enact a law that would bring greater democracy to the broadcast media. The telecommunications law approved in March 2013 included the creation of an independent agency, the Instituto Federal de Telecomunicaciones (IFETEL), which was established to push for a more democratic broadcast sector. The IFETEL, which replaced the largely ineffective Comisión Federal de Telecomunicaciones (COFETEL), is taking its constitutionally mandated mission seriously, and this was reflected in the institute’s first major action. In early January, the agency announced the auction for 246 digital television frequencies around the country and in the process indicated that the two existing networks would not be eligible to participate. -Carlos Navarro  Read More 

Chilean Right Replaces Candidate; Presidential Succession an Issue in Mexico; Cuba-U.S. Migration Talks Continue

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Articles in SourceMex, NotiCen and NotiSur for August 7-9

Organization of American States: Abandoning War on Drugs Would Be Worst Scenario for Region

The wave of violence that has swept over the countries in Latin America that have been the worst affected by drug trafficking could lead them to unilaterally abandon the war on drugs . In the short term, this could reduce the number of drug-related killings in these countries; in the long term, becoming a "narcostate" would allow the drug trade to flourish and expand. This is one of the four scenarios explored by the Organization of American States (OAS) in two reports published during its latest meeting, held in June in Antigua, Guatemala. The reports, compiled by a team of experts from each of the member states, analyze the state of drug trafficking in the region and put forward various scenarios that illustrate the advantages and disadvantages of following different paths, including decriminalization and legalization. -Louisa Reynolds  Read More

Chile’s Reeling Right Switches Presidential Candidates Again After Pablo Longueira, Citing Depression, Bows Out

Three months after a financial scandal sank its most-promising presidential candidate, Chile’s governing coalition, the Alianza, has been forced to pass the proverbial baton yet again, opting this time for a contender better known for her occasional foul language than for her politics. The conservative coalition’s new banner bearer, Labor Minister Evelyn Matthei, has nearly a quarter century of political experience under her belt but little time left to test her savoir-faire against her leading opposition challenger, former President Michelle Bachelet (2006-2010), a clear favorite to win the country’s Nov. 17 election. Interestingly, the two women--both daughters of high-ranking Air Force officers--have known each other since they were children. -Benjamin Witte-Lebhar  Read More

Report Shows Nearly Half of Mexico’s Population Remains Poor

While some experts consider Mexico one of the top economies in Latin America and a middle-income country, one set of statistics sticks out like a sore thumb: the country’s high rate of poverty. The most recent report from the Comisión Nacional para la Evaluación de la Política Social (CONEVAL) offered a stark reminder that any recent economic growth has left a lot of the country’s population behind. The CONEVAL report, released in late July, says that 45.5% of Mexico’s population is currently living in poverty. Of that total, 35.7% of the population suffers from "moderate" poverty and 9.8% from "extreme" poverty. The CONEVAL statistics indicate in absolute terms that the numbers of Mexicans living in poverty as of 2012 has increased from 2010, even though the percentage of poor in relation to the population has actually declined. -Carlos Navarro Read More

Migration Talks Between Cuba and the U.S. Resume Despite Tensions

The US and Cuba returned to talks in Washington to assess the progress of their immigration agreements after two years of cooling bilateral relations caused by the imprisonment of subcontractor Alan Gross, and they now face new concerns motivated by the latest scandal involving weapons covertly sent from the island to North Korea. The discovery of military equipment in the North Korean vessel Chong Chon Gang on July 15 as it was passing through the Panama Canal seemed to compromise the rapprochement between the two countries, which systematically evaluate the immigration agreements signed during the administration of President Bill Clinton. -Daniel Vázquez Read More

Argentina State Oil Firm YPF Teams with Chevron to Extract Shale Oil, Gas

Amid the most dire prognostications about the viability and development of Argentina's state oil company YPF, the government of President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner signed an agreement on July 16 with Chevron, the US multinational oil giant, which could allow Argentina to achieve the long-sought-after goal of energy self-sufficiency by 2017. Since the state renationalized the oil company in May 2012, when it took over the shares that had been in the hands of the Spanish firm Repsol since 1992, YPF has been looking for partners able to invest the huge amount of capital needed to return to full operation and profitability a company that had been decimated in just two decades of private management. -Andrés Gaudín Read More

President Enrique Peña Nieto’s Surgical Procedure Reignites Debate over Presidential Succession

The discussion on whether Mexico should develop an emergency presidential-succession plan in case something happens to the chief executive resurfaced at the end of July when President Enrique Peña Nieto underwent surgery. The last time that the issue became a major topic of public discussion was in 2003, when then President Vicente Fox announced he would undergo surgery to correct a pinched nerve in his back . Mexico has no vice president. -Carlos Navarro  Read More