In this Spanish language article, community leaders. Alex Villca and Ruth Alípaz, from the San José de Uchupiamona community, spread the word that the coronavirus is a threat to their existence.
The indigenous peoples of the Bolivian lowlands, especially those located in the depths of the Amazon, where it takes hours and days to reach them, ask the government to be part of domestic and international aid that the country receives and not be discriminated and ignored in their own natural habitat.
Ruth Alipaz, a community leader and activist from the San Jose de Uchupiamona community in the north of La Paz said: “That the government guarantees us access to all the aid that the Bolivian population is receiving, but with policies appropriate to the need for protection. As methods or procedures for the supply and distribution of basic necessities, in addition to the help of international cooperation, ”
During the last few days, lowland indigenous people scattered in the northern departments of La Paz, Pando, Beni, part of Cochabamba, Santa Cruz and Tarija, have shared the difficult situation they are experiencing — the lack of basic services, poor health service in their communities, high vulnerability to the pandemic and an isolation that deprives them of industrialized food and medicine.
This health crisis has socioeconomic consequences, by stopping some productive activities and others related to tourism. Alex Villca, from San José de Uchupiamona states "The worst virus for our peoples is called capitalism, the main cause of the contamination of our soils, water and air, therefore, the accelerated destruction of our common home known as planet earth," he argues. Along the same lines, Alipaz reports that indigenous people are the most vulnerable population in the face of this pandemic. "A contagion would devastate our populations, since to begin with we will not have access to appropriate medical centers to attend to us, because they simply do not exist in our territories, not even in the municipalities," she notes.
"The government at its different levels must take into account Indigenous Peoples when deliberating and making decisions that affect our territories… imagine traveling two or three days to get to find a financial institution and collect a bond. This also exposes us to a greater risk of contagion from the virus," Alex Villca points out.