International

Hunger in the world remains at high levels for the third consecutive year

Hunger levels remained worryingly high in 2023 for the third consecutive year, with about 733 million people chronically undernourished worldwide, according to a report released on Wednesday by five United Nations agencies.

The report on “The state of food security and nutrition in the world,” presented in Rio de Janeiro, coinciding with the ministerial meetings of the G20, shows an alarming global scenario in which one in eleven people went hungry last year.

Hunger continues to increase in Africa, where 20.4% of its population suffers, stabilizes in Asia (8.1%) and is experiencing progress in Latin America (6.2%), except in the Caribbean region.

“In Africa, conflicts have increased and access to finance has been greatly reduced,” Máximo Torero, chief economist of the UN Food and Agriculture Agency (FAO), told EFE.

The world has gone back 15 years in the fight against hunger, with levels of undernourishment comparable to those of 2008-2009, in the heat of wars, the climate crisis, the loss of purchasing power corroded by inflation, the lack of funding and the growing social inequality.

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These phenomena, especially wars, climatic catastrophes and economic crises, “are increasingly frequent and serious,” the report warns.

The ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic remain. Today, there are 152 million more people who go hungry compared to 2019.

Between 2022 and 2023 there were advances in the rates of growth retardation and exclusive breastfeeding, but access to adequate food continues to be an “unattainable” chimera for many

Last year, about 2,33 billion people, that is, almost a third of the world’s population, faced moderate or severe food insecurity, practically the same level that was reached during the coronavirus crisis.
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“The pandemic has greatly exacerbated inequalities,” Torero said.

This year’s report emphasizes the “urgent” need for “greater and more profitable financing, with a clear and standardized definition” in favor of food security and nutrition, especially in poor countries.

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“You need to invest more and do it smarter. Investments should not come only from governments; also from the private sector, which we hope will have a part in this fight against rural hunger and poverty,” Rossana Polastri, IFAD’s regional director for Latin America and the Caribbean, told EFE.

Not covering that financing deficit will have “social, economic and environmental” consequences that will require solutions that will also cost several billion dollars.

If the trend continues, “582 million people will be chronically undernourished by 2030, half of them in Africa,” warn FAO, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Food Program (WFP) and the Children’s Fund (Unicef), authors of the study.

A figure far removed from the target of zero famine set for that year.

To get closer to that goal that seems impossible today, Brazil, which holds the rotating presidency of the G20, launches this Wednesday a Global Alliance against Hunger with which it intends to end this scourge through better coordination and greater investment.

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International

Trump urges Putin to reach peace deal

On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated his desire for Russian President Vladimir Putin to “reach a deal” to end the war in Ukraine, while also reaffirming his willingness to impose sanctions on Russia.

“I want to see him reach an agreement to prevent Russian, Ukrainian, and other people from dying,” Trump stated during a press conference in the Oval Office at the White House.

“I think he will. I don’t want to have to impose secondary tariffs on Russian oil,” the Republican leader added, recalling that he had already taken similar measures against Venezuela by sanctioning buyers of the South American country’s crude oil.

Trump also reiterated his frustration over Ukraine’s resistance to an agreement that would allow the United States to exploit natural resources in the country—a condition he set in negotiations to end the war.

International

Deportation flight lands in Venezuela; government denies criminal gang links

A flight carrying 175 Venezuelan migrants deported from the United States arrived in Caracas on Sunday. This marks the third group to return since repatriation flights resumed a week ago, and among them is an alleged member of a criminal organization, according to Venezuelan authorities.

Unlike previous flights operated by the Venezuelan state airline Conviasa, this time, an aircraft from the U.S. airline Eastern landed at Maiquetía Airport, on the outskirts of Caracas, shortly after 2:00 p.m. with the deportees.

Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, who welcomed the returnees at the airport, stated that the 175 repatriated individuals were coming back “after being subjected, like all Venezuelans, to persecution” and dismissed claims that they belonged to the criminal organization El Tren de Aragua.

However, Cabello confirmed that “for the first time in these flights we have been carrying out, someone of significance wanted by Venezuelan justice has arrived, and he is not from El Tren de Aragua.” Instead, he belongs to a gang operating in the state of Trujillo. The minister did not disclose the individual’s identity or provide details on where he would be taken.

International

Son of journalist José Rubén Zamora condemns father’s return to prison as “illegal”

Guatemalan court decides Wednesday whether to convict journalist José Rubén Zamora

The son of renowned journalist José Rubén Zamora Marroquín, José Carlos Zamora, has denounced as “illegal” the court order that sent his father back to a Guatemalan prison on March 3, after already spending 819 days behind barsover a highly irregular money laundering case.

“My father’s return to prison was based on an arbitrary and illegal ruling. It is also alarming that the judge who had granted him house arrest received threats,” José Carlos Zamora told EFE in an interview on Saturday.

The 67-year-old journalist was sent back to prison inside the Mariscal Zavala military barracks on March 3, when Judge Erick García upheld a Court of Appeals ruling that overturned the house arrest granted to him in October. Zamora had already spent 819 days in prison over an alleged money laundering case.

His son condemned the situation as “unacceptable”, stating that the judge handling the case “cannot do his job in accordance with the law due to threats against his life.”