Food Crisis in Guatemala

On Tuesday, Alvaro Colom's government declared a nationwide "nutritional risk alert" to avoid a food crisis in the country's poorest areas. The goal of issuing an alert is to prevent an "emergency."  The country's "dry corridor" and southern coastal communities (heavy rains) are the areas that have been most affected by extreme weather.


According to the UN, 49% of Guatemalan children under the age of five suffer from chronic malnutrition. Guatemala has the highest percentage in all Latin America and the fourth highest rate in the world. Unsurprisingly, chronic malnutrition approaches 70% in indigenous communities.


The Colom administration is trying to use the food crisis to again push for a tax reform. That was going to be a problem any day of the week. More so after the vice president comes out and says that 45,000 tons of food donated by the international community recently went missing! 


Fortunately, President Colom later clarified that the vice president should have said 45 tons, but now those are accounted for as well. Just a minor exaggeration. 

(See Fox News Latino, Prensa Libre, Mission Network News, Nuevo Herald, Guatemala Times)