Bolsonaro administration exposed for neglecting indigenous peoples rights during Covid-19 pandemic

The Indigenous Peoples of Brazil Network (Apib) has once again denounced the government’s neglect in the fight against Covid-19 with the report “Our struggle is for life,” which details the impact of the pandemic among the indigenous population. Five months after the organization achieved, through the Federal Supreme Court (STF), the mandatory adoption of measures to protect indigenous peoples by the federal government, the decision continues to be ignored by the Bolsonaro administration, points out the report.

As a way of measuring the real impact of the disease on the community, the Apib, in collaboration with other indigenous organizations, has accounted autonomously, in addition to the official data presented by the government, the advance of the pandemic among the indigenous population. By December, there had been 800 deaths, 42019 confirmed cases, and 161 people affected, more than half of the peoples that are living in Brazil. “Much more than numbers, it was our shamans, our midwives, elders and chiefs who left. We lost our elders who kept the memories of our ancestry, guardians of knowledge, of songs, of prayers, of our spirituality. Leaders who dedicated their lives to the struggle to defend the territory, the integrity and the physical and cultural existence of their people”, says the report.