Six months after its appearance in Latin America, the coronavirus epidemic has killed more than 250,000 people, deepened poverty and inequality, threatening to undo decades of slow socio-economic progress.
In low-income neighborhoods, in the slums, desperation spread as quickly as the virus, as money began to run out, immediate consequences of the sharp drop in economic activity linked to restrictive measures in an attempt to contain the pandemic.
A recent study by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) shows that in 10 out of 16 Latin American countries, the sharp drop in income is the main worry for families.
In all of these countries, thousands of people have found themselves faced with the dilemma of filling their stomachs or exposing themselves to contamination, and in the worst case scenario, neither has escaped.
“I find myself unemployed because of this pandemic. There are days when we do not eat because the situation is difficult,” says Milena Maia, 35-year-old Brazilian, living in the Heliopolis favela, which is home to 200,000 people. in Sao Paulo.
A single mother, she worked as a cleaning lady. She now depends on donations from an association to feed her three children. Acquaintances of hers died from Covid-19 and “many others are infected,” she says.
Priscila Tomas da Silva was forced, along with her husband and six children, to leave her house because she could not pay the rent. They now live in a hut in a parking lot on the outskirts of Sao Paulo, where a new favela is being born.
– State deficiencies –
Out of 620 million Latin Americans, more than 6.4 million have been infected and the 250,969 deaths make it the most bereaved region on the planet. And many experts believe these figures are underestimated for lack of testing and strict accounting.
The authorities’ economic support measures are often insufficient and do not always reach those who need them most.
“The containment and the pandemic have highlighted realities which have always existed and which have become more pronounced, structural injustice, infrastructure problems”, notes Father Lorenzo de Vedia, parish priest for the poor in a slum in the south of Buenos Aires.
“The presence of the State is insufficient and disorderly,” he laments. For Father Guillermo, who officiates in another Argentinian shantytown, it is only solidarity that has allowed “things not to explode”.
Health systems, already largely underfunded, are under strain. In Peru, hospitals have been dealing with shortages of medical oxygen for weeks. The lack of personnel was evident in Gayaquil, the economic capital of Ecuador, which was hit hard at the start of the epidemic wave.
As the aid promised by the government was slow to materialize, food riots broke out at the start of the crisis in Santiago, the Chilean capital. In El Alto, the neighboring city of La Paz, in Bolivia, residents demonstrated to demand the government act on the relentless rise in unemployment.
In an attempt to cushion the crisis, Chile and Peru have allowed residents to withdraw a nest egg from their retirement funds. But experts stress that the measure will have an impact on already fragile social protection systems.
According to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), in a region where the level of informal work stands at 54%, unemployment will reach 13.5% this year, or some 44 million people without work , 18 million more than in January.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicts a regional GDP drop of 9% in 2020.
– New poor –
The epidemic is expected to push 45 million people back into poverty, bringing the total to 231 million, or 37.3% of the population of Latin America and the Caribbean, according to Cepalc.
The International Labor Organization (ILO) estimates that nearly two-thirds of Latin American workers are now at risk of losing their jobs, having fewer hours of work and falling incomes.
Peru, which has grown above the Latin American average in recent years, saw its GDP plunge 17% in the first half of the year, and middle-income families, whose number has steadily increased for fifteen years. years, are now in trouble.
This is the case of Sara Paredes, 45, and Raul Cisneros, 46, a couple who, overnight, ran out of money: “It’s been five months since I had any orders translation or interpreting “, laments this translator of Quechua (local Peruvian language).
Sara, 45, was unable to continue her education at the School of Fine Arts, nor to continue her theater performances. They barely manage to feed their two children and have given up paying the rent for their apartment in Lima.
In Central America, it is the historic drop in “remesas”, these remittances of money by emigrants living in Mexico and the United States, which is sorely felt.
In addition to the precariousness of employment and the difficulties in obtaining treatment, there is an increase in deaths from treatable illnesses, such as dengue. Not to mention the victims of domestic violence.
School dropout is also increasing, underlines Unesco, which notes the growing gap in access to education between boys and girls. With serious consequences for the future.
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