FAO Removes Venezuela from List of Hunger Hotspots, Incorporates Colombia
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has excluded Venezuela from its list of countries facing severe food shortages.
In a report published on January 27, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has warned that acute hunger will skyrocket by more than 20 critical points in the coming months, unless immediate action is taken.
FAO, in its report, stated that this year in Latin America, Colombia, Haiti and Honduras are in the Agency’s list of highest levels of concern; but there is not such a forecast for Venezuela.
The report indicates that food security in Colombia is going to deteriorate “due to a combination of political instability, economic challenges and the current impact of the regional migration crisis amplified by internal displacement,” resulting from delays in application of the recommendations of the 2016 peace agreement.
The FAO report has been a cause for concern for Colombian Senator and presidential candidate Gustavo Petro, who on blamed Uribismo for this “social disaster” and promised to promote an anti-hunger emergency plan in Colombia.
Este es el mapa del hambre del mundo. ¿No les parece que los medios le han contado un cuento que no es?
Este es el gran desastre social del uribismo.
Me comprometo a un plan de emergencia contra el hambre en Colombia. https://t.co/xRc8thYOT2
— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) January 28, 2022
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According to a survey by the consulting firm INVAMER, published last September, 77% of Colombians surveyed consider that the social situation in Colombia is worsening under the President Iván Duque’s administration.
On the other hand, the president of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro has assured that his country’s economy grew 7.6% in the third quarter of 2021, while specialized statistical institutions reported a growth of more than 4% of the Venezuelan economy throughout last year.
It is also considered that the Venezuelan government’s CLAP program that delivers monthly food rations to millions of people in the country is a reason for elimination of severe food crisis in Venezuela, despite the criminal US and EU-imposed blockade and sanction measures that impede and prohibit even food imports into the country.
Featured image: Anti-government protests in the city of Medellín, Colombia, on May 19, 2021, during the National Strike in April-May 2021. Photo: AFP
(HispanTV) with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/GMS/SC
