A cry for help as Covid‑19 sweeps Latin America and hunger bites

Shortages are returning to a continent with literal red flags to show the virus is compounding poverty.

Food distribution last month at Chácara Santa Luzia in Brazil (Paulo H. Carvalho/Agência Brasília/Flickr

It was a cry for help, the word “hambre” (hunger) projected against the Torre Telefónica building in downtown Santiago, Chile’s capital. It abruptly woke up a city that has been under total quarantine since mid-May. “We are locked up, and we are…