The Disastrous Impact of Covid-19 on Brazilian Indigenous Populations: an Interview with Almir Narayamoga Suruí

Source: https://www.euronews.com/2020/07/10/ovid-19-how-brazil-is-failing-its-indigenous-people

By: Alice Iscar

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the KCL Latin American Society or El Cortao.

For over a year now, Covid-19 has been an omnipresent subject in our everyday lives. Views on the pandemic’s political, economic, social and societal impact on communities around the world have been continuously and widely shared. However, little has been said in mainstream media about Covid-19’s impact on indigenous populations in Latin America, including Brazil. 

The reality of the situation is not easy to confront. On the 4th of April 2020, the first case of coronavirus in an indigenous community was detected in Brazil. The case was a 15-year-old teenager of Yanomami ethnicity, an indigenous group which lives in the Amazon rainforest, on the border between Venezuela and Brazil. A few days later, on the 8th of April 2020, a 20-year-old Indigenous woman of Kokama ethnicity had contact with a doctor, who, it was later found out, had Covid-19. The woman was herself infected and when she went back to her village, she infected the rest of her community. Since the beginning of 2020, more than 30,000 indigenous people have been infected in Brazil by the virus and almost one thousand have died from it.

In addition to the direct threat the virus poses to these populations, who are losing so many of their members, the biggest worry focuses on the health of ‘the elders’. Indeed, older people are more likely to develop a severe form of the virus and consequently die from it. But the health of older indigenous people and the prevention of their premature death are essential to the preservation of the tribe’s culture and knowledge. As highlighted in an article in The Guardian entitled ‘ “We are facing extermination”: Brazil losing a generation of indigenous leaders to Covid-19’, the teachings of an indigenous’ tribe’s culture and history is passed orally from the elders to the younger members of the tribe. Therefore, the premature death of the older members, due to the virus, represents a great threat to the conservation of their culture and historical and medical knowledge. 

Indigenous tribes in Brazil are particularly vulnerable to the virus as they are removed from public health services and therefore unable to seek adequate treatment early in the development of the disease. According to an article on the Médecins Sans Frontières website, a high proportion of the Brazilian indigenous population suffers from untreated chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension, which increase their risk of developing a severe fatal form of the virus.  In addition to lacking immunological defences because they live isolated from other communities, the indigenous tribes’ way of life is incompatible with the social isolation and sanitary measures imposed on populations in most other countries. They often live close together, in small houses, share water and food and usually lack sanitary equipment in order to limit the spread of the disease. If one member of the tribe is infected, it is very likely the disease will quickly spread to the rest of the group.

To make matters even worse, the Brazilian government’s policies regarding the pandemic and the protection of the Amazon and its indigenous populations is alarmingly defective. In his failure to take the pandemic seriously, Jair Bolsonaro, the current president of Brazil, has put in danger his own population and his country’s indigenous people. An Euronews article highlights how Bolsonaro went as far as to place a veto on laws that would have made it compulsory for the government to assist the Brazilian indigenous populations through the provision of clean water access, reserved care beds in hospitals and basic material necessities. Additionally, Bolsonaro openly supports the clearance of vast areas of the critically important Amazon rainforest for the development of agricultural, forestry, mining or industrial activities. According to an article in the New York Times, deforestation in the Amazon hit a 12-year high in 2020 under Bolsonaro and increased by a further 9,5% compared to 2019. Deforestation contributes to the spread of Covid-19 to indigenous people. Indeed, it increases social interaction among indigenous tribes and outsiders, such as illegal miners; and it pressures communities to move to other regions where the virus may be more present. 

In the light of this article, I had the chance to interview Almir Narayamoga Suruí by phone. Almir is the chief of the Paiter Suruí tribe, an indigenous tribe living in the Mato Grosso-Rondônia region of Brazil. In addition to being a tribal chief, Almir is a political activist, dedicated to the protection of his and other indigenous peoples and the Amazon rainforest. He kindly answered a few of my questions on the impact of Covid-19 on indigenous populations in Brazil. Below is the transcript of this interview.

Alice: Hello Almir, thank you for accepting to do this interview with me and for taking the time to answer my questions, I imagine you must be really busy.

Almir: You are welcome; it is a pleasure to do this interview with you. 

Alice: I am writing an article for the journal El Cortao of the Latin American Society of my university King’s College London. My article is on how the Covid-19 pandemic is affecting indigenous populations in Brazil. As the chief of the Paiter Suruí tribe, I have a few questions to ask you on that subject. My first question is: How is the pandemic affecting your tribe? What is happening concretely?

Almir: Our community is rather isolated from the rest of the country, but on some occasions we need contact with the modern world because of material or medical needs. In the context of that contact, a few members of our tribe have been infected by the coronavirus and passed the disease to other members of the Paiter Suruí people. Today, there are 204 members of the tribe who have had coronavirus. This represents 30% to 40% of the entire tribe, it is very worrying. Brazil’s governing system is not adequately prepared to help its indigenous population when facing this type of threat. In the last few months, four Suruís have died from Covid-19. It is an immense challenge for our community and our organisations. Unfortunately, we need those two cultures, the modern Brazilian culture and ours. We need the services provided by the city and by the forest. We need to be in two different places, and this increases the risks of contamination. 

Alice: And how do you think this relates to the deforestation of the Amazon and the current policies of the Brazilian government?

Almir: I believe the government’s policies weaken the forest and our community. The deforestation and the ‘mega-industrialization’ policy, which the president is driving forward, threaten the health of our community.  

Alice: In what ways is the community trying to overcome the challenge posed by the pandemic?

Almir: To face the pandemic, the governance of the Paiter Suruí tribe focused on the social isolation of our people. The Metareilá Paiter Suruí Indigenous People Society, of which I am a member, has done a lot to support social isolation, by looking for economic alternatives, and by seeking support from foundations, businesses and individuals to enable the social isolation of our people. The strategy is to maintain this social isolation and the fight moves forward. 

Alice: How can we help, from our side?

Almir: There are various ways to support us. There is the possibility to donate to the campaign that the Paiter Suruí tribe has created in order to help the community to face the pandemic through financial or medical equipment donations. There is also the possibility to pressure the national administration to have more respect for the Amazon forest. We have some contact with national and international universities – perhaps your university can join this group to articulate support for our community together with our society and our university. We have a project in our university Paiter a Soeitxawe, which is the Paiter Suruí tribe’s university, which aims to created partnerships with other Brazilian or international universities. 

Alice: Do you have one last message you would like to share before we finish this interview?

Almir: I believe us humans can overcome any challenge, like pandemics or others. We need to look for solutions together. Because those who live in the Amazon need Europe, but those living in Europe also need the Amazon. We need to share our experiences of facing the world’s challenges. This is my message.

Alice: Thank you, Almir. Do I have your authorization to use this interview for my article?

Almir: Yes, you do.

Alice: Thank you for your time.

The question of the protection of indigenous people in Brazil and its direct link to the protection of the Amazonian rainforest underlines the interconnections between human health across communities and the importance of the preservation of the environment. As highlighted by the article and by Almir in the interview, the protection of the forest and its human inhabitants go hand in hand. The pandemic sheds light on this interconnectedness and on the need for a holistic approach in regard to the environment and human health.

Alice is a third-year History and International Relations student at King’s College London seeking to raise awareness about the current politico-environmental situation in Brazil. She is a regular contributor of El Cortao’.

Sources:

Charlier, Philippe, Varison Leandro. “Is COVID-19 being used as a weapon against Indigenous Peoples in Brazil?” The Lancet 396, no. 10257 (Autumn 2020): 1069-1070. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)32068-7.

Fox, Michael. “Brazil’s Indigenous peoples fight COVID-19 in their territories amid government neglect.” The World, September 4, 2020. https://www.pri.org/stories/2020-09-04/brazil-s-indigenous-peoples-fight-covid-19-their-territories-amid-government.

Graham, Laura R., Krenak Edson, Rabben, Linda. “Brazil’s COVID-19 Response: A Death Knell for Indigenous Peoples.” Cultural Survival, November 12, 2020. https://www.culturalsurvival.org/news/brazils-covid-19-response-death-knell-indigenous-peoples.

 “Indigenous youth open up about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their communities.” Unicef.org. Accessed December 20, 2020. https://www.unicef.org/brazil/indigenous-youth-open-about-impact-covid-19-pandemic-their-communities.

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