Coronavirus in the Peruvian Amazon: from state inaction to Indigenous Peoples’ lifesaving responses to protect life

Faced with the ineffectiveness of the Peruvian State amid the advance of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Peruvian Amazon, various Indigenous Peoples have taken actions and proposed intercultural measures to protect their territories and the wellbeing of their communities.

52 days after the Peruvian government announced a national state of emergency, there is no clear, intercultural, intersectoral and multi-level operational framework with a focus on human rights to govern State actions for Indigenous Peoples during the pandemic. Today, life is blatantly threatened, as Amazonian Indigenous Peoples have warned the United Nations. Indigenous organisations have taken it upon themselves to push forward with contingency actions to counter the COVID-19 virus, making demands and condemnations as well as forceful proactive proposals from the bottom up.

Stumbling for a response: What the State has failed to do

Aid as a potential vector of disease

Social isolation measures have had a strong impact on the communities most dependent on the market economy, as they have been unable to transport their agricultural products and purchase basic goods. At the end of March, the Supreme Decree No. 033-2020 was issued dictating that local governments should acquire and distribute basic goods in their jurisdictions, ensuring “that goods be delivered to each household”. However, as the Indigenous organisation PUINAMUDT observed, this measure has led to unrest in the communities as it unnecessarily increases the risks of spreading the disease, as the distributor enters in contact with a large number of residents. It is obvious that the decree did not appropriately consider rural conditions and Indigenous Peoples’ epidemiological vulnerability to the pandemic.

One of the most important questions concerns the way in which remote Indigenous communities should be assisted. Mobile Social Welfare Platforms (PIAS) – boats that supply various public services and can navigate deep river channels – were presented by the Minister of Culture as a viable solution. However, a week later the Minister of Defense rejected their use due to the limited access to many river basins and the risk that the vessels may spread COVID-19 as they carry a large number of outsiders. Subsequently, the Minister of Culture reiterated that the PIAS were already being prepared, although to date it is unclear how they will be implemented given such weak cross-sectoral coordination.

 

Not only is the State slow in providing assistance to communities in urgent need of food or medicine, but it attempts to do so in a highly uncoordinated manner.

 

Due to social isolation measures, four out of ten Peruvians have lost their income sources across the country. The State has tried to take the pressure off of household budgets with economic subsidies. The first stipend – called “Stay at Home” – raised expectations, but also caused upset among Indigenous organisations as it prioritised urban areas. The Ministry of Culture (MINCU) then contacted the nine regional Indigenous organisations which form part of the national association AIDESEP in order to produce lists of potential beneficiaries with only a few days’ notice. The request was made without taking into account the need for regional organisations to contact their local federations. These federations, in turn, would have to contact community representatives to obtain the required information – a task further complicated by limited telephone and internet access, the current lockdown, long distances between communities, and a lack of experience using Microsoft Excel. Such disconnection from reality renders this “assistance” inoperative; it is a useless gesture. To date, the state of these databases remains unknown.

“Nothing, it came to nothing. So far, my name has not appeared on any list of beneficiaries for welfare support”, said Miguel Guimaraes, president of the Federation of Native Communities of Ucayali and Tributaries (FECONAU).

Subsequently, Indigenous organisations were informed of two new grants: the rural subsidy for vulnerable households in rural areas, and the universal subsidy. However, it is unclear how this financial support will work: whether people should travel to town to collect it in cash, or whether special committees will be organised to visit the communities, having taken sanitary precautions that are currently unclear. No one appears to have thought through how the money could be spent in communities where there are no longer any supplies to buy, and whether the Indigenous proposal of receiving aid in the form of food will be included as an option.

An absence of clear COVID-19 health protocols in Indigenous communities

On 20 April, the COVID-19 Regional Operations Unit was formed in Ucayali, although the first positive cases of the illness had already been recorded three days earlier in the Indigenous community of Puerto Bethel in the Peruvian Amazon, where FECONAU are based. Due to the lack of clear procedures, the local authorities and population did not know how to reach a decision about transferring those infected with COVID-19, nor were additional tests planned for the rest of the 300 residents. In addition, there are no transparent mechanisms which enable the Regional Health Departments to report information at the national level that takes into consideration the number of COVID-19 infections amongst different ethnicities.

The “National Plan for Strengthening the Health and Containment Services of COVID-19” has a centralised view and does not mention vulnerable Amazonian populations.  Local recommendations – such as the “Regional Plan for Strengthening Health Services and Containment of COVID-19 Infection” in the northern Amazon region of San Martin – are also culturally inappropriate. Its recommendations are clearly focused on urban populations, such as advising people to “use paper towels to dry hands” or control movements across the “living room or kitchen” for infected residents who are quarantining at home.

Unprotected Indigenous territories

On March 25, the MINCU issued the Ministerial Resolution No. 109-2020-MC that takes into account Indigenous Peoples in isolation and those in a stage of initial contact. The document establishes measures for officially recognised Indigenous protected areas. However, five proposed areas have not been considered as these protections have been awaiting official approval by the State for over a decade.

Territorial threats from illegal logging have already been reported in a recognised reserve that was to be monitored during the quarantine. Given this, it is easy to imagine how illegal activities may be operating in the areas yet to be created, and which are therefore unprotected.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been no moratorium on extractive activities in Indigenous territories, such as logging, oil extraction and industrial agriculture. Indigenous organisations report that companies are operating without specific health protocols and are transferring personnel from cities with a high number of infected people.

A forestry company worker in Loreto has been diagnosed with COVID-19, as has a worker from the Spanish oil company REPSOL, operating in Lot 57 in the Matsigenka territory in the rainforest of Cuzco. Given these risks, it is incomprehensible that the new Supreme Decree 080-2020-PCM approves the resumption of economic activities such as mining, forestry and hydrocarbon industries. In reality, these activities in Indigenous territories never stopped.

There is a lack of coordination on the part of State authorities with the Indigenous organisations that have closed their territories, and this has led to the intimidation of communities who try to prevent the entry of government agencies. This has resulted in aggression against a Kichwa Indigenous leader on the Pastaza River, comments on social media regarding an Awajun leader for preventing the entry of food to a community along the Cenepa River, and the hostility of a Navy brigade questioning the closure of the Napo River by Kichwa communities.

What Indigenous organisations have been doing

"No one goes out, no one comes in": Self-determination and territorial defence

Drawing upon their historical memories as to the best strategy to safeguard life, the Autonomous Territorial Government of the Wampis Nation (GTANW) closed the borders of their territory in late March, exercising their right to self-determination and self-government. This became even more vital when  the first positive cases of COVID-19 were detected in San Lorenzo, a town near the entrance to the Wampis territory.

"No one goes out and no one comes in. Communities have shut themselves in to protect their own lives,” said Shapiom Noningo from GTANW.

The Wampis have supplied food, fuel and guards to the Peruvian military posts on the Kanus and Kankaim Rivers, to help secure the border with Ecuador. They have also shared educational messages about COVID-19 via local radio broadcasts, and they have the support of Wampis medical staff in coordination with local health posts.

Raising awareness of the situation of Indigenous communities in Peru

On 1 April, the Ethnic Council of the Kichwa Peoples of the Amazon (CEPKA) addressed a letter to the MINCU, the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Development and Social Inclusion and the San Martín regional government, highlighting the lack of territorial security, the fragility of the health system, and rural inhabitants’ exclusion from social programs to support family incomes during the pandemic. It made recommendations for the immediate implementation of an intercultural health plan and the dissemination of information on contingency actions in the case of COVID-19 infections within communal territories. In addition, the letter proposed greater State vigilance through coordinated actions with CEPKA, and the support of welfare programs following responsible procedures that do not compromise communities’ health.

The GTANW expressed its concern on Ideeleradio about the fact that borders are being abandoned, while under-equipped health posts lack medical equipment, face masks and supplies.

"I want to tell the President of the Republic that we have always demanded a real presence of the State, but this has not happened. The army has been abandoned. They don't even have canoes here to patrol… However, on our side we have made our own contingency plan to prevent the coronavirus from reaching the communities ”, said Wrays Pérez, Pamuk of the GTANW.

Meanwhile, FECONAU has reported that the public health system responded too late to the signs of COVID-19 in the Shipibo Conibo community of Puerto Bethel.

"They have sought excuses not to enter the area, which is very worrying because there is no protocol or general plan for the situation of the communities in this global crisis [...] We are vulnerable populations, there are no medical centres, we do not have protocols for intervention, so who should we wait for? Whose assistance should we seek?” said Miguel Guimaraes, the FECONAU President.

Advocating for intercultural protocols to combat COVID-19

FECONAU has been following the technical and political drafting process of the “Action Plan to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic in Indigenous communities” in the Ucayali region.

CEPKA, along with partner institutions, has developed a Safety Protocol to stop the spread of COVID-19, including making critical information available to  communities, measures that address the entry of various actors into communities during the pandemic, and recommendations on what to do when there are suspected or confirmed COVID-19 cases. The protocol has been submitted to the Coordinator for the Development and Defence of Indigenous Peoples of the San Martín Region (CODEPISAM) with the goal of incorporating these guidelines into regional and provincial plans.

“If we have a plan, then we can respect each other. The government does what it wants, but it is in our interest that we decide our own fate, armed with these [protocols]  for Indigenous Peoples. That is what is missing and today we must unite with the State, even if it does not recognise us”, said Isidro Sangama, the CEPKA President.

Solidarity in times of a pandemic

There are a number of Wampis families who live in urban areas far away from their communities, who are struggling to secure a daily income during the lockdown. The GTANW has contacted them and is coordinating food supplies for them.

FECONAU managed to fund the return to their communities of some leaders who were stranded in Pucallpa as soon as the national emergency measures were declared. It has also been providing basic food parcels and hygiene supplies to its most vulnerable communities.

At the local level, communal kitchens in some of FECONAU’s communities have been reopened, and the Kichwa of FEPIKECHA are carrying out group tasks (mingas) to open up productive spaces that can contribute to food sovereignty during and after the pandemic.

The most urgent next steps

The progression of COVID-19 across Amazonian Indigenous territories is a reality. Its arrival has revealed the many colonial fractures that have destroyed these spaces due to the ineffectiveness of the State, and the lack of interest in protecting lives. The State’s urgent and vital task must be to recognise, respect and incorporate the many strategies and proposals that have already been developed by Amazonian Indigenous organisations and their communities. This will require more humility on behalf of the government, to embrace the participation of peoples who have a better grasp of local contexts and long-standing structural deficiencies. Only then will it be possible to apply containment measures, whether by decree or specific regulations, via COVID-19 operation units at the national or regional level, prevention campaigns, regional or provincial health plans, and medical and social assistance brigades. All of this needs to take place even as Peru, under these most extraordinary of circumstances moves towards understanding itself as a country through an intercultural lens.