What is it like to be vegetarian in countries like Argentina, Chile or Brazil? Three Latinamerican activists of the NGO Friends of the Earth give their personal answers.

At 14, Viviana Fernandez was imprisoned and tortured by the military dictatorship of Pinochet in Chile. For three decades she did not touch the topic, not wanting to aggravate her family’s discrimination and isolation. Many of the 1000 children, that were imprisoned under Pinochet, are traumatized until now. Today Viviana helps other former child prisoners to improve their self-esteem and to be recognized for their political resistance.

Three decades after the end of the military dictatorship in Argentina, its cruel legacy is still alive. The militaries have abducted, tortured and killed at least 30,000 people who were suspected of opposing their regime – and adopted their young children. Thus, more than 400 young people of my generation are still living with the murderers of their real parents (or their complices). We met one woman who recently regained her identity.

To the Uruguayans Germán Brito seemed crazy at first. Returning after half a life in Europe, he bought a small farm like those that are being sold to multinational companies on a grand scale. In the new country of Barbecue and soybeans, Germán Brito goes against the current and revives disappeared trees and almost forgotten farming methods. With success: His farm has a huge productivity and the habitants of Montevideo pounce on his organic vegetables – because there are just few left in Uruguay.