Casa de las Américas alerts about the impact of Covid on indigenous

The planetary spread of Covid-19 and its impact on indigenous communities poses a huge challenge for the world, says a statement by Casa de las Américas published today in this capital.

Regarding the International Day of Indigenous Peoples, the institution warns about the risks for these groups that were already in a situation of vulnerability before the spread of the new coronavirus.

High levels of contagion, precarious health indices, difficulties in accessing medical services and basic resources are some of the adversities these groups face.

In addition, the document mentions the premature death of grandparents and grandmothers, protectors of the legacy, and the inaction or insufficient response by the States against the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, which causes Covid-19.

'These conflicts place the indigenous peoples of the Americas in a situation that seems to repeat the one experienced by their ancestors in the early days of the conquest and colonization,' he adds.

The arrival of Covid-19 to peoples in voluntary isolation threatens their existence, particularly in rural communities or in urban contexts where indigenous men and women work, mostly informally.

Added to this is the increase in criminalization and the selective murder of indigenous leaders, as well as the impunity of those responsible, denounces the text published on the website La Ventana.

'The full exercise of their rights, internationally recognized in ILO Convention 169 on indigenous and tribal peoples (1989), and in the United Nations Declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples (2007), constitutes a horizon to be reached that is moving away due to the increase in inequality ', he emphasizes.

In this regard, the document rejects the coup in Bolivia to remove Evo Morales, indigenous president, from power, as well as the murders of indigenous activists in Colombia and the policies in Brazil and the United States against these communities.

As part of the Study Program on Native Cultures of America, the institution announces the upcoming holding of an International Colloquium focused on the reactions and responses of indigenous peoples to these realities to be held digitally, from October 12 to 16.