Latin American Food Security Summit Calls For Increased Production, Limits On Markets - IPS

[hatrack]

MANAGUA, May 8 (IPS) - The presidential summit on "Food for Life", held in Nicaragua, has ended with 16 Latin American countries agreeing to produce more food and sell it at low prices through strategic alliances, amid criticisms of free markets and capitalism. The summit on regional food sovereignty and security was convened by Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega to debate the global crisis caused by food shortages and to seek regional solutions.

Presidents Manuel Zelaya of Honduras, Óscar Arias of Costa Rica, Rafael Correa of Ecuador, Evo Morales of Bolivia and René Préval of Haiti attended the summit meeting on Wednesday. Delegations from El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Venezuela, Belize, Panama, Dominica, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, the Dominican Republic and Cuba also took part. Representatives of United Nations agencies, the Organisation of American States (OAS), the European Union, international financial institutions and the business world were present as observers.

Ortega, as host, chaired the discussions, and during breaks between speakers he wasted no opportunity to condemn the "empire", meaning the United States, and "neoliberal policies imposed by the international financial institutions." The presidents of Haiti, Bolivia, Ecuador and even Costa Rica joined Ortega in blaming the world’s most developed countries for the global food crisis.

According to statistics from the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisations (FAO), over the last year the international price of maize increased by 31 percent, rice by 74 percent, vegetable oils 60 percent, dairy products 83 percent, soybeans 87 percent, and wheat 130 percent. The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) warned in late April that "the steep and persistent rise in international food prices is hitting particularly hard on the poorest in Latin America and the Caribbean."

EDIT

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42294

[phantom power]

1. tangentially...

I see that "the empire" is now a de facto synonym for "United States."

I'm feeling the pride.
x(