In this Spanish-language article, El Deber describes the impact of the COVID19 pandemic on remote indigeneous communities located in the north of La Paz. Due to mobility restrictions, they are unable to get fuel for their boats, and have not received food or vouchers.
More than 11,500 families from the following 10 indigeneous communities are impacted: the Organization of the Mosetén Indigenous People (OPIN), the Indigenous People Leco and Native Communities of Larecaja (Pilcol), the Indigenous People's Center Leco de Apolo (CIPLA), the Regional Council T-simane Mosetén de Pilón Lajas (Crtm-PL), Quechua Tacana Indigenous People San José de Uchupiamonas (Pitqt), the Communities that Ejja de Eyiyuquibo (CEEE), the Original Agroecological Community of Palos Blancos (CAOPB), Indigenous Communities Tacanas Río Madre de Dios (Citrmd).
According to Gonzalo Oliver, president of Central de Pueblos Indígenas de La Paz (Cpilap), “the needs and deficiencies of these communities are not recent , but have been aggravated by the quarantine, since the inhabitants cannot go to urban centers for fear of contagion.”
The government has stated that the military would provide assistance, however this also raises concerns: “within this group there may be some sick person, which would be disastrous given our situation of vulnerability. The same with the entry of food, because the virus can arrive in the boxes that would be given. For this reason, we ask that there be maximum coordination, planning and prevention to avoid that by bringing help we have to make the brothers sick with this pandemic,”
“The indigenous people of the lowlands of La Paz have not benefited from the provision of food bags, except for a small group from the Madre de Dios River, who were helped with 18,000 kilos of food by the Catholic Church. “
Indigeneous communities have decided to isolate “to prevent someone infected from entering their community and spreading the virus . In the best of cases, the communities have a small post and a part-time nurse, but without medication or the possibility of transferring a patient at the appropriate time to receive specialized care. Added to this is the lack of fuel for their boats, since most of the transportation is done through rivers.”
At the same time, through decree 4229, the Government has authorized” mining and agricultural companies to mobilize their personnel to workplaces, many of which are in indigenous territories, which are highly vulnerable to the coronavirus.”
“It is striking that, when authorizing the reactivation of mining and agricultural activities at the national level, the Government has not considered establishing specific protocols for those operations that take place within indigenous territories. At this moment the country has a serious problem to identify patients with the Covid - 19, when allowing mining workers or people outside the territory to enter indigenous territories, the possibility that the disease occurs in indigenous territories is greater ”, Vargas explains, quoted by the Cejis statement.