Food as a Political Weapon in Chile
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Date
2020-05
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The Ohio State University
Abstract
Using CIA investigation reports on the US intervention of Chile (1968-1974), research on the “Chicago Boys” economists and testimonies from Chilean protestors, this paper examines how food scarcity was used by the CIA under Salvador Allende’s presidency to villainize the Popular Unity’s redistribution economy, while upholding neoliberal policies as the solution to malnutrition and food scarcity. This paper establishes an extricable link between economic wellbeing and proper nourishment, pointing to the stark inequality in Chile as one of the factors contributing to a rapid increase in health problems that swung from malnourishment up until the 1990’s to obesity, diabetes and heart disease since the 2000’s. Finally, this paper weighs the costs and benefits of the transformed food economy, examining whether the neoliberal model of food distribution has been successful in improving the health of lower income Chileans with processed goods now widely available in transnational supermarkets across Chile.
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food