CARACAS – Venezuela will send next week its first planeload of food to help combat the famine that a devastating drought has caused in Guatemala, President Hugo Chavez said.

“I’ve spoken with President Alvaro Colom and he told me of the famine in some areas, with children dying of starvation due to the terrible drought,” the leftist president said Friday.

“On Tuesday the first plane will take off with a load of rice, milk and beans from our food reserves,” Chavez added.

Chavez referred to this problem during a swearing-in ceremony for the new vice presidents of the Cabinet held at the seat of government, Miraflores Palace.

He used the occasion to recall that, according to data from the Latin American Economic System, in 2009 there are 52 million starving people in Latin America, 13 percent more than last year.