Global food crisis grips Latin America

Similarly, Argentina has suspended the sale of its wheat to its principal importer, Brazil, in an attempt to curb inflation in food prices by assuring adequate domestic supplies. The cost of this measure has been passed on to the Brazilian people, who have seen bread prices rise by more than 20 percent in the past 12 months.

Brazil never imported as much wheat as today, with the amount set to pass 70 percent of supplies, which according to some sources is already considered the biggest crisis in this sector in the last two decades.

The crisis is also affecting Venezuela, which projects an annual inflation rate of 28 percent. The rise in food prices has been aggravated by the impasse with Colombia, after the Colombian governmentin a joint action with the United Statescarried out the assassination of the No. 2 leader of the FARC guerrilla movement, Raul Reyes, together with 17 others last month in Ecuador, leading the government of President Hugo Chavez to close its borders with the neighboring country.

Foodstuffs such as meat, milk and sugar are in short supply in the markets, and the Venezuelan people are forced to form lines around the block to buy food.