COVID-19 Threatens Eradication of Brazil’s Indigenous Peoples
More than 100 indigenous groups live isolated from non-indigenous society in Brazil. (Wikimedia Commons)
While the developed world continues to struggle with containing COVID-19, the world’s indigenous peoples face an even greater threat: the potential eradication of entire populations.
Brazil's Social Environmental Institute (ISA) reported on April 24 that there have been at least 27 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and at least three deaths of indigenous people in remote regions of the country. Indigenous people comprise 0.5 percent of the Brazilian population.
As of April 25, Brazil has experienced a total of 54,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus and more than 3,700 deaths. Due to limited testing, however, these numbers are a gross underestimate, and Brazil is yet to reach its infection peak, experts say.
Brazil is home to 114 isolated tribes that virtually never contact non-indigenous society. These populations, most of which have no “immunological memory” of modern diseases, are at great risk of devastating consequences should the virus reach their communities.
Living secluded from other societies, indigenous populations have a long history of being more susceptible to diseases. A measles outbreak among members of the Yanomami community killed nine percent of those infected just 60 years ago. Today, the Yanomami land is Brazil’s largest indigenous reserve (at about 60,000 square miles, it is twice the size of Switzerland) and is home to 25,000 people. Over the last few years, indigenous communities such as the Yanomami have already witnessed the deterioration of their land as loggers, miners, poachers, and others (encouraged by Bolsanaro) have slowly stripped the Amazon rainforests of their rich resources.
Although modern communities have continued to honor traditions and lifestyle practices that have been passed down for generations, many have amended certain habits in order to achieve goals similar to those of social distancing practices around the world. People have been advised to avoid sharing utensils and to adopt traditional seclusion practices to isolate those showing symptoms of COVID-19. Such practices emulate those historically applied to women who have just given birth.
However, if an outbreak begins in an indigenous community, people may lack access to basic supplies meant to reduce the spread of the virus, such as soap and hand sanitizer, and comprehensive healthcare is likely to be very far away.
Ianukula Kaiabi Suia, president of the Xingu Indigenous Land Association, has ordered strict lockdown measures for his village to prevent exposure to the virus. Other tribal leaders have followed Suia’s lead, recognizing the importance of isolation in such risk-trodden times.
According to Dr. Sofia Mendonça, a researcher at the Federal University of São Paulo, some communities have drawn from past epidemic experiences by devising plans to disperse into smaller groups and seek refuge inside the forest.
The effectiveness of such measures cannot yet be predicted, as threats of food shortage due to increased seclusion loom, and many may choose the risk of infection over hunger.
Some Brazilian officials have recognized this vulnerability among indigenous groups and have taken action to prevent greater devastation. Federal prosecutors recently announced an investigation into Brazil’s national indigenous agency, Fundai, which is accused of withholding 11 million Brazilian reais ($2.1 million) in emergency coronavirus funding for two weeks.
Antonio Carlos Bigonha, a superior federal prosecutor, told O Estado de S Paulo, the newspaper that first reported the incident, that prosecutors are “working to clarify why there is no immediate application of resources to favour the indigenous people.”
Bigonha wrote in a statement that the funds “will be used for different purposes, such as the emergency purchase of food for areas of extreme social vulnerability, the displacement of teams to the Protection Fronts of isolated and recently contacted indigenous peoples, as well as the acquisition of vehicles and boats to enable the transport of civil servants to the villages and of Indigenous people to the health units.”
Similarly, after a lawsuit by the Javari Valley Indigenous Peoples Union, a judge barred missionaries from entering indigenous reserves under the consequence of forced removal. As Brazil’s death toll rises, the temptation of such organizations to evangelize indigenous groups has also risen, but communities hope to avoid any contact with virus carriers.