Indigenous tribes who live deep in the Brazilian part of the Amazon rainforest and have (almost) no contact with the outside world may soon be forced to be helped by the Brazilian government in the fight against the corona virus. A law that allows deputies to be sent to the communities faces criticism in the country.
Among other things, the law will allow President Jair Bolsonaro’s government to conduct rapid corona tests on members of the vote and, if necessary, send medicines and food, Reuters. Tribes remain responsible for their region and decide who they admit to their territory.
Only the senators have yet to give their approval. However, what detests human rights organizations is the part of the law in which the government wants to send Christian missionaries along with the medicines. “Their presence has only led to death and destruction in the past,” COIAB wrote.
On Friday, activists moved into Brazilian streets to get the law off the table. They fear that visitors can transmit the virus to the tribes, with far-reaching consequences: for many tribes, a simple flu can already be fatal.
The coronavirus and Brazil
- More than 330,000 infections have been identified
- Death toll rose by nearly a thousand a day to above 21,000 in recent days
- President Bolsonaro receives heavy criticism for considering the virus to be nothing but a “flu”
–
–
–
One third of all strains affected by coronavirus
The corona virus is said to have already affected about two hundred tribes in the more than five million square kilometers of nature reserve, wrote Reuters earlier. The numbers of deaths mentioned range from a few dozen to more than a hundred indigenous men and women.
Even before the corona virus could take hold in Brazil, tribes already took measures. For example, the secluded village of Tres Unidos completely shut itself off from the outside world, but the native population still became infected: the nearby river was probably caused by the virus.
Village chief Waldemir da Silva, also called the Tuxuau Kambeba called a “treacherous virus carried by the wind”. At least thirteen of his 106 villagers are said to have fallen ill.
“Tribes live in the safest place in the world, through their seclusion”
Critics nevertheless claim that the tribes currently live in the safest place in the world: because they are so shielded, the virus has a hard time reaching them, they reason.
The situation in Tres Unidos is said to have arisen from problems in larger cities such as Manaus, with almost two million inhabitants the largest city in the Amazon. The intensive care units in the city are overcrowded and there is not enough space to bury the dead, according to the report Reuters. Because the city was not well prepared for a health crisis of this magnitude, the virus was able to spread easily: even deeper in the jungle.
In the event that entire tribes threaten to disappear due to the coronavirus, action must be taken, human rights organizations believe. That is why an international fund was set up in early May to raise approximately five million dollars for the indigenous people of South America. Currently, the counter is just above $ 100,000.
Follow the latest developments around the virus in us live blog.
The coronavirus in short
–
–
–
– .
