Children starve in worlds breadbasket

last updated 8 January 2015

Tucumán, Argentina

A coalition of charity groups sued the government of Argentina’s Tucumán province last week, accusing it of “willful neglect” in the malnutrition deaths of dozens of children. The hunger problem has sparked outrage across Argentina, the world’s fourth largest exporter of food. “This is not Africa, this is Argentina, where there are 50 million cattle and 39 million people,” said Oscar Hillal, a Tucumán doctor. A leading Roman Catholic bishop said the government had the means to help the poor, despite a catastrophic economic crisis. Anibal Fernandez, the minister of production, agreed and blamed the deaths on “a sick society and a ruling class that are sons of bitches, all of them, myself included.”