Alex Villca is quoted in this Spanish-language article about the impact of the pandemic on Amazonian Indians: “The quarantine has not stopped extractive activities in Bolivia. Since the emergency began, at least 64 oil and gas extraction fields have maintained their activities in Tarija, Santa Cruz and Chaco, which has generated questions and criticism. Our fear is that they will carry the virus to indigenous communities, ”said Alex Villca, from the Coordination of Defense of Indigenous, Native, Peasant and Protected Territories.
For some analysts, the lack of responses from governments means their complicity with the genocide of the indigenous peoples, in order to seize their lands and the numerous natural resources of the Amazon basin.”
The pandemic has already reached the banks of the Amazon River in Brazil, Colombia and Peru. “Without medicine or food, the indigenous communities of the Amazon face a situation of total chaos in the presence of the new coronavirus. Indigenous representatives complained about the little assistance they receive from the governments of the region despite the expansion of Covid-19.” Boats continue to transit the Amazon and communities fear that foreigners may infect them.