Chavez says food prices ‘massacre’ of world’s poor

CARACAS (Reuters) – Soaring food prices are a “massacre” of the world’s poor and are creating a global nutritional crisis, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Tuesday, calling it a sign that capitalism is in decline.

His comments came only hours after the United Nations’ World Food Program called more expensive food a “silent tsunami” that threatens to plunge more than 100 million people on every continent into hunger.

“It is a true massacre what is happening in the world,” Chavez said in a televised speech, citing U.N. statistics about deaths caused by hunger and malnourishment.

“The problem is not the production of food … it is the economic, social and political model of the world. The capitalist model is in crisis.”

Reuters