International
The ‘Supersopa’, created during the great crisis of 2002, returns to the canteens of Argentina
In an Argentina with more than half of its population below the poverty line, the National University of Quilmes (UNQ) resumed the production of ‘Supersopa’, a low-cost and nutrient-rich food that it had created during the country’s last major economic crisis in 2002.
The ‘Supersoup’ is produced by UNQ students on a university floor, it is designed to complement restrictive diets and provide essential nutrients and is delivered in cans of about four liters.
“In a dining room, where people eat once a day, a food that provides vegetables and meat makes a difference compared to a plate of noodles,” Anahí Cuellas, a master in Food Science and Technology, teacher and director of the plant, explains to EFE.
“This prevents the gap between those of us who can eat meat and those of us from widening even more. Children who cannot eat protein have poor cognitive development and learning problems,” he adds.
The ‘Supersoup’ was created by the university in 2002 as a response to the serious economic and social crisis that the country went through, which came to have 57.5% of poor people, according to official data from that time.
Since that moment, about 250,000 cans have been produced, which are estimated to contain about 10 million rations of nutritious food.
“The university takes responsibility for creating a program from the social food processing plant, where a nutritionally balanced low-cost sustenance is manufactured, which is intended for the most vulnerable,” says Cuellas, while meters away a team of more than a dozen students constantly packs liters and liters of soup in cans that will then be distributed to popular canteens in different parts of the country.
Still far from the severity of the crisis at the beginning of the century, according to the latest data released by the National Institute of Statistics and Census (Indec), Argentina closed the first half of 2024 with 52.9% poverty, while poverty climbed to 18.1%.
In parallel, Javier Milei undertook since his arrival to the Presidency at the end of 2023 an unprecedented reduction of the State and an offensive against social organizations and soup kitchens, which the Government considers to be a focus of corruption.
Faced with this situation, the UNQ put its plant, reserved for student internships twice a year, to produce about 300 cans a week.
The production process begins with the selection of semi-cooked vegetables, which are then subjected to a heat treatment that eliminates the need for preservatives and allows the cans to be stored without refrigeration.
Each can of ‘Supersopa’ costs 40,000 pesos (about 40 dollars), contains about 50 servings of a food without additives and subjected to strict microbiological controls.
Individuals, companies, foundations and even state institutions can buy the product or access it through programs sponsored by different donors, which facilitate production costs and their subsequent distribution to canteens.
“From the symbolic, producing soup cans in a public university and reaching the canteens makes visible the commitment of our universities to the territory,” says Cuellas, in a context in which the Government of Milei has also focused on public universities, which say they are drowned by the lack of budget.
The Cuellas team is composed of a group of students from different careers related to food, who also seek to train on a professional and personal level: “It is to put learning into practice and add social content, making a food for a boy or girl who goes to bed daily without eating.”
International
Mexican government prioritizes 191 communities after deadly floods
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum confirmed on Wednesday that the death toll from recent rains and floods across several central states has risen to 66, while the federal government has activated air bridges and prioritized assistance in 191 isolated communities.
“Unfortunately, 66 people have died, and 75 remain missing,” the president said during her morning press conference. She added that the official death toll will be updated later in a new report.
As of Tuesday, authorities had reported 64 fatalities. Sheinbaum also announced the creation of a public information center to centralize official data on the deceased, missing persons, damaged homes, and cut-off communities.
According to the president, the number of missing persons has decreased thanks to coordination with state authorities.
“Through calls to phone line 079, 103 people who had been reported missing have now been located,” she explained.
Priority Municipalities
The president noted that the federal government has classified 191 communities as ‘priority’, a designation based mainly on the percentage of homes affected.
International
New road and bridge explosions raise alarm amid indigenous protests in Ecuador
Ecuadorian authorities are investigating two explosions that occurred early Wednesday, one on a road in the southern part of the country and another under a bridge in Guayas province. These incidents follow the car bomb explosion in the coastal city of Guayaquil, also in Guayas, which occurred the day before and left one person dead and 30 injured.
Press reports indicate that one person was injured and several vehicles were damaged in the explosion on the Cuenca-Girón-Pasaje road in the south.
“Besides yesterday’s explosion in Guayaquil, we have received reports of explosives placed on bridges along the Guayaquil-Machala and Machala-Cuenca routes to disrupt traffic,” said Roberto Luque, Minister of Infrastructure and Transport (MIT).
On his X social media account, Luque reported that authorities have been deployed to the sites to assess the damage and determine the current condition of the structures.
“What they haven’t achieved with their call for a strike, some are trying to achieve through terrorism,” he stated, referring to the 24 days of protests organized by the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities (Conaie) against rising diesel prices and other demands.
The protests, called at a national level, have Imbabura province as their epicenter. Roadblocks have also been reported in the northern part of Pichincha province, whose capital is Quito, while activities in the rest of the country continue normally.
International
Armed forces target illegal mines in Northern Ecuador with bombing raids
Ecuador’s Armed Forces carried out an operation on Monday — including airstrikes — against illegal mining in the town of Buenos Aires, in the country’s north, Defense Minister Gian Carlo Loffredo reported.
The mountainous, gold-rich area has been a hotspot for illegal mining since 2017, located in the Andean province of Imbabura.
In 2019, former president Lenín Moreno deployed around 2,400 soldiers to the region in an attempt to curb the illegal activity. “The operation began with mortar fire, followed by gunfire and bombing runs by Supertucano aircraft,” Loffredo said in a video released by the Defense Ministry.
He added that the operation would continue on Tuesday with patrols across the area to locate possible members of “irregular armed groups that may have crossed from the Colombian border.”
The Armed Forces stated on X that the intervention focused on the “complete elimination of multiple illegal mining tunnels” in the areas known as Mina Nueva and Mina Vieja.
The operation coincided with the deployment of a military and police convoy into Imbabura, which has been the epicenter of protests against President Daniel Noboa since September 22, following his decision to scrap the diesel subsidy.
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New road and bridge explosions raise alarm amid indigenous protests in Ecuador
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