Hunger returns to haunt Brazil amid divisive vote
Issued on: 14/09/2022 - 04:00
Modified: 14/09/2022 - 03:58
3 min
Poço da Cruz (Brazil) (AFP) – In a small cement house crumbling to ruins in Brazil's parched Sertao region, Maria da Silva, a graying matriarch struggling to feed her family, opens her empty refrigerator and breaks down in sobs.
The 58-year-old widow, whose creased brown face betrays her burdens, lost her family's main breadwinner when her brother, who worked in Sao Paulo, died of Covid-19 last year. Now she and her family of eight, who are squatting in an abandoned shack, are among the 33.1 million Brazilians living in hunger.
The figure -- a 73-percent increase in the past two years, according to the Brazilian Network for Research on Food Security -- has become the subject of a bitter political battle as Latin America's biggest economy heads for elections on October 2.
Holding a nearly empty can of powdered milk for the three young grandchildren who live with her, ages three, two and 15 months, Da Silva gives a tour of her dilapidated house, which has no bathroom or running water.
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It is a major setback for a country that had been removed from the map in 2014, after an economic boom and landmark social programs helped lift 30 million people from poverty during Lula's administration (2003-2010).
More:
https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220914-hunger-returns-to-haunt-brazil-amid-divisive-vote
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