Large numbers of Brazilians are facing increasing hunger as citizens go to the polls to decide whether to re-elect President Jair Bolsonaro for another term.
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Thawanny Silva de Souza, 6, and Rafael Silva de Souza, 9, eat rice, beans and eggs for lunch at their family’s home in the Arco Iris favela in Recife, Brazil.
The specter of hunger hangs over Brazil’s presidential race this year as it did some time ago.
Runaway inflation and the fallout from the pandemic pushed food confidence gaps here to levels almost unrecognizable a decade ago. One in 3 Brazilians say they have recently had trouble feeding their family.
Trailing in polls and eager to offer relief, President Jair Bolsonaro has haggled through tax regulations to build Brazil’s main social coverage program at 50 percent by the end of the year.
But this has failed to move the needle so far. Opinion polls show that their position among the poorest Brazilians has been strong or declining since the start of the most generous payments.
Luciana Messias dos Santos, 29, poses for a photo with her empty refrigerator at her home in Brasilia’s Estrutural favela.
Thawanny eats rice, beans and eggs for lunch at his family’s home in the Arco Iris favela.
Social assistance recipients polled via Reuters in part of a dozen states were reluctant to give Bolsonaro credit for expiring election year benefits. Most said they were betting on his leftist rival, former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who reduced hunger and excessive poverty with a commodity boom in his 2003-2010 presidency.
In the slums of Brazilian cities, families struggle to feed themselves while hunger spreads in the tough food exporter.
“We are the forgotten ones. There is no lunch today,” says Doña Monica in a “favela” called Arco Iris (rainbow) in a river that smells of sewage and urine in the dengue-plagued northeastern city of Recife.
Carla Marquez, 36, six months pregnant, cries as she talks about fuel and food costs in the room where she and her circle of relatives live in Sao Paulo.
Luciana stands with her son, while cooking with firewood outdoors at home.
In the middle of Sao Paulo, Brazil’s largest city, Carla Marquez lives in a church-paid room with her husband Carlos Henrique Mendes, 25, and their five-year-old daughter. high. I have nothing to give him,” the 36-year-old mother said through tears.
UN HUNGER MAP
Brazil’s election appears to be the case of soaring global food inflation worrying policymakers, yet hunger has returned to Latin America’s largest economy for much of a decade.
Just 8 years ago, Brazil achieved its UN purpose of getting rid of widespread malnutrition ahead of schedule. Since then, the percentage of Brazilians who say they cannot feed their families in the past 12 months has more than doubled to 36%, according to the Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV) think tank.
The result is a consensus within Brazil’s political status quo that the country wants a stronger social defense network. At most, all primary parties and applicants have supported “emergency” monetary benefits for 20 million families, obtaining benefits for one in 4 Brazilians, making it one of the systems of maximum extensive social coverage in the world.
Elvira de Fátima Saraiva, 57, prepares dinner, the meal for family day, in Porto Alegre
A view of the Brasilia Teimosa favela shows residential buildings in the Boa Viagem neighborhood of Recife
Marcelo Neri of the FGV says he has noticed hunger at the center of the electoral debate.
“The whole political spectrum is talking about food insecurity, it’s everywhere,” he said.
Both Bolsonaro and Lula promise they will work to expand this year’s most generous welfare program or even expand it. None have explained how they will finance this, but analysts say it will mean the end of a constitutional cap that has set fiscal policy for the country. beyond the age of six.
LULA’S CAREER TO THE FIRST
Voter opinion polls showed Bolsonaro had controlled Lula’s merit earlier this year by expanding Auxilio Brasil and executing on fuel costs, but Lula had begun to retire in the past two weeks.
Lula received 48. 4% in the first round of voting last Sunday, and Bolsonaro 43. 2%, meaning Lula did not win entirely. The result of the election will be at the time of circular voting in 3 weeks.
María José holds her lunch, a bowl of rice, in front of her space in the Arco Iris favela.
Luciana feeds her 10-month-old baby sitting on the lap of her husband Felipe dos Santos, 26, at home
“The aid has not had the effect the government wanted. The construction was perceived by others as an electoral maneuver and they rejected the scheme,” pollster Felipe Nunes of Quaest Pesquisa e Consultoria told Reuters.
FGV economist Neri agreed that Lula’s credibility is superior among Brazil’s deficient ones because Bolsonaro’s social protection measures have been erratic. The government reduced and then suspended emergency aid after the covid-19 pandemic, and when welfare was restored, it reduced it, he said.
Meanwhile, food costs continued to rise, driven by fuel and transportation costs, and increased 9. 83% for the year.
“People say Bolsonaro helps. But he gives it and then withdraws it. It’s much older with Lula,” said Luciana Messias dos Santos, 29.
Carla dos Santos Feliciano, 38, pushes a buggy containing completion and vegetables donated through investors at the CEASA center in Rio de Janeiro
Carla typifies the food she has thrown into food for cooking, in the CEASA Supply Center
In his cabin in Estrutural, Brasilia’s largest favela, he had to adapt his stove to cook with firewood for fuel because fuel is too expensive.
Bolsonaro has denied that hunger is critical in Brazil, angered by the importance it has acquired in the election campaign.
“Hunger in Brazil? It doesn’t exist as reported,” he said in August. Last week, his economy minister, Paulo Guedes, took part in a Penssan Network poll that indicated 33 million people were at risk of starvation. A lie. That’s not true. It’s not the numbers,” he said.
In Rio de Janeiro, Carla Feliciano, 38, a welfare recipient, says she survives by picking fruits and vegetables from garbage dumps outside the municipal market. He said life has become very complicated after the pandemic under Bolsonaro’s government.
“Social or non-social makes no difference. I vote for Lula. Je will die as a supporter of Lula,” he said.
WELFARE AS AN ELECTORAL ARTICLE
The average source of income for poor Brazilians fell to its peak 10 years ago, widening the country’s stark social inequalities.
Bolsonaro has focused on getting the votes he wants to be re-elected, a daunting task facing Lula, whose conditional money-moving welfare program called Bolsa Familia lifted millions out of poverty when he was in power.
Carla types the food that has been thrown away to locate products to cook
Izabela, 2, eats food found in a trash can by her mother Carla
Bolsonaro renamed the Auxilio Brasil program to complete the social assistance agreement with Lula, but did not bring the election results he expected.
“Bolsonaro tried to play this card, but it probably wouldn’t help him,” said Carla’s husband, Carlos, who scratches as he picks up pieces of cardboard on the streets of Sao Paulo. He said he would vote for Lula and his Workers’ Party. . His wife wasn’t so sure.
Living in a tent with her children and grandchildren just 800 meters from Brasilia’s presidential square, Edilene Alves says she sees clearly in Bolsonaro’s ploy.
Carlos and Edilene’s distrust of Bolsonaro’s motives has echoed among low-income Brazilians from Porto Alegre in the deep south to Salvador and Recife in the northeast.
“They think we’re stupid. Increasing social assistance from 400 reais [£70] to 600 reais doesn’t work when supermarket costs have risen so much,” said the migrant from Brazil’s impoverished northeast. “People are going to starve. “
Thawanny Silva de Souza, 6, and Rafael Silva de Souza, 9, eat rice, beans and eggs for lunch at their family’s home in the Arco Iris favela in Recife, Brazil.
Reuter
Luciana Messias dos Santos, 29, poses for a photo with her empty refrigerator at her home in Brasilia’s Estrutural favela.
Reuter
Thawanny eats rice, beans and eggs for lunch at his family’s home in the Arco Iris favela.
Reuter
Carla Marquez, 36, six months pregnant, cries as she talks about fuel and food costs in the room where she and her circle of relatives live in Sao Paulo.
Reuter
Luciana stands with her son, while cooking with firewood outdoors at home.
Reuters
Elvira de Fátima Saraiva, 57, prepares dinner, the meal for family day, in Porto Alegre
Reuter
A view of the Brasilia Teimosa favela shows residential buildings in the Boa Viagem neighborhood of Recife
Reuter
María José holds her lunch, a bowl of rice, in front of her space in the Arco Iris favela.
Reuter
Luciana feeds her 10-month-old baby sitting on the lap of her husband Felipe dos Santos, 26, at home
Reuter
Carla dos Santos Feliciano, 38, pushes a buggy containing completion and vegetables donated through investors at the CEASA center in Rio de Janeiro
Reuter
Carla typifies the food she has thrown into food for cooking, in the CEASA Supply Center
Reuter
Carla types the food that has been thrown away to locate products to cook
Reuter
Izabela, 2, eats food found in a trash can by her mother Carla
Reuter
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