The spatial facet of neoliberalism in the Pandemic in Latin America

In May 2020, we are experiencing a multidimensional humanitarian crisis on a global scale. The COVID-19 pandemic – still active – continues to make you see, daily, the spatial inequalities, at the same time as it aggravates the economic situation that most two countries in Latin America and Caraíbas are going through. The geopolitical context shows that some authoritative governments, with actions that do not consider the observations and recommendations of specialized international agencies and institutions, further deepen the crisis, making the future scenario in our region complex.

This situation is compounded by the precariousness of two public health systems, as well as by privatization of both themselves, by dependence on medical supplies that must be imported, by reduced resources destined for the social systems (health, education and housing) and, also, by more working conditions and Economic instability that affects thousands of people.

As such, popular sectors, rural communities, native people, African-Americans, migrants, people in the streets or in prisons and LGBTIQ+ communities denounce their susceptibility to lack of protection, criminalization and repression by two States.

Collective agitation burns progressively as the health and food emergency increases, due to inequality and poverty generated by an economic system that depredates territories and lives. The pandemic becomes more latent at social distance between different groups and social sectors. The slogan #FiqueEmCasa is a measure that cannot be fulfilled, in the same way, by all people. Those who are deprived of access to basic benefits for the reproduction of life are aware of the social gap that affects us today, and that, in the context of neoliberal policies, is becoming deeper, highlighting a space where the freedom of some is the insecurity, exposure and misery of others.

In this scenario, the last few weeks have been complex, with an increase in cases, in some countries, greater than even the two most emblematic cases in Europe. One of Chile, whose government of Sebastián Piñera revealed and deepened a serious social crisis that has been going on since October 18, 2019 (1). The speeches made by the health authorities of this country demonstrate a significant inconsistency with respect for
reality of thousands of people who live in different locations. Likewise, during this period, the Piñera government appealed to individual freedom to apply measures that would end up leading to an increase in precariousness in the living and working conditions of society, resulting in a clear social and territorial asymmetry that favored localities with high-income populations, as well as large companies in the country.
and as multinationals, to the detriment of the population in situations of poverty. These measures did not happen when the number of infected cases increased. (2), making Chile one of the two countries with the highest number of infections, per thousand inhabitants, not the world.

Além disso, accrecentam-se the protests that began in the Commune of El Bosque, in the city of Santiago, not after May 18, as they spread to other communes of the Metropolitan Region and the country (3). The demands of the population are related to the lack of work and the lack of work, which is the consequence of the quarantine decreed in the city, as they affect more strongly the independent and itinerant workers who live in daily income generated by temporary and sporadic professional activities.

This is not the case in Argentina, due to pre-existing inequalities, the popular sectors and the native population being the most affected. The conditions of vulnerability in which we live, the problems of access to basic quality goods and services, such as drinking water, as well as situations of gender violence, mean that preventive and mandatory isolation aggravates the reproductive capacity of life. Despite measures and policies
Specific measures taken by the national government and by various provincial and municipal administrations, the current economic and social situation reveals a historical social gap.

In Mexico, the progress of COVID-19 has been concentrated in the Metropolitan Area of ​​Mexico City. The urban peripheries (4) Only in the most vulnerable and affected areas due to the advance of the pandemic, we must support workers in more precarious situations. A par disso, the gradual return to "new normality" as of June 1, decreed by the Mexican Health Council, foresees the operation without restrictions das
essential activities, among which the construction, automotive and mining industries are considered. In the case of the construction industry in the Metropolitan Area of ​​the City of Mexico, it means the return of thousands of workers to their work locations, or it will reactivate the pendulum movements between the peripheries and the urban corridors, as we concentrate on urban land speculation driven by “tsunami”
real estate. Além disso, the situation experienced by thousands of migrants and people displaced from lands places this country in a complex scenario, which is reflected in the increase in two cases and deaths caused by COVID-19.

In the case of Peru, the government's discourse used the term "war" as a simulation of the current situation, to characterize or confront it as a virus. Embora this country has been one of the first to adopt measures (5), or that it was positive, or the government loses little by little legitimacy due to the negligence that it demonstrated in facing the pandemic. These economic measures will favor the business class (6), such as, for example, through the “perfeit suspension” which, if approved, allows for arbitrary dismissals, non-renewal of employment contracts and unpaid work licenses (7). Your current announcements are trying to progressively lift the quarantine (8), reducing the security protocols to the “gosto” and to the approval of Confiep (Confederação Nacional das Instituições Empresariais Privadas) and large companies. The bonus “universal subsidy” is not the fact that we are given two respective social programs that, after 70 days of obligatory quarantine, many Peruvians have not been able to receive, since the Peruvian government is aware that 73% of the PAA is informal or advém de Precarious jobs, those who are required to expose themselves to viruses to provide economic support to their families. Além disso, or precário work, of the population that was deixada without health, education and moradia, and criminalized itself tended to have been imposed in the 1993 constitution and established by the consensus of Washington and two factual national and transnational powers through Fujimori.

In Colombia, the measures initiated to confront the pandemic through preventive isolation show the fracture between the neoliberal government of Iván Duque and the president of the chamber of the Green Party of Bogotá, Claudia López, because in the capital, like other cities and departments, the decision was made to implement social confinement measures (in Bogotá, on March 20) before the national government took measures. The country's quarantine measure was taken on March 24, which shows deep territorial inequalities in terms of infrastructure, provision of health services, number of professionals per territory and lack of labor guarantees for professionals in the health sector. Together with this, the privatization of the health system, more than two decades ago, revealed corruption and illegal financing.

The most serious and complex events are the result of the "recollection touch", which was combined with measures of social isolation and mandatory quarantine, in some departments and municipalities of Colombia, where several cases of attacks by public forces against the civil population, street dwellers, informal and ignorant vendors, and cases were registered of sexual violence against women. On the other hand, the context of armed conflict increased the number of murders of female leaders and social leaders, with 100 cases registered, second to Indepaz, in 2020, and reported forced displacements in Antioquia and Chocó during the months of April and May, respectively.

For Ecuador, the unjust health and food territories, together with the economic measures that affect the working class and the multi-day “low life”, is now a public policy, led by President Lenin Moreno, which plans, under the protection of a presidential resolution, to diversify its functions along with secretaries for convert the ministerial posts into a government within the executive government itself. Além disso, as hundreds of deaths in the streets, or contagion massive and roubo do
Public waste was exacerbated by the inflation of two masks and two plastic bags, which was constant for more than 60 days. Meanwhile, the executive branch awaits the legislative branch to approve measures to combat the pandemic. It is true that some local and provincial governments, together with Andean indigenous organizations
In the Amazon, accompanied by NGOs that fight both nature and human rights, we are confronted with its few resources and a constant policy of change, the true pandemic that lives in the country, with agroecology and partial mobility.

The health emergency caused by COVID-19 aggravated the economic crisis that has been going on for years and enfraqueceu the political legitimacy, already distorted, of the government of Lenín Moreno. The advance of the virus affected mainly the city of Guayaquil. The excess of corpses on the streets revealed the exclusion and inequalities typical of the capitalist city model, the dismantling of the health system and the incompetence of the
central and local government authorities to satisfy health care demands. The response of the Ecuadorian Government to manage the crisis was the decree of the state of emergency and a progressive application of the need to collect, or seja, control and security measures as a response to a health situation.

In the case of Venezuela, it was one of two countries that quickly took measures to avoid infection of the population and to avoid a pandemic, through Decree No. 4.160 of 03/13/2020, which declared the state of emergency decreed for the entire country. (9). These measures keep the population safe and the level of contagion at a minimum level. Between March and mid-May, taxa remain low in comparison with other Latin American countries. However, the internal situation of the country obrigou the communities to leave the street (10), due to lack of potable water (11), to the collapse of the electrical energy system (12), to shortage of gasoline and gas (13), to food shortages (14) and the failures of the health system (15).

Além disso, to return taxes for Venezuelans, from abroad, increase in the number of infections in the country (16), or that indicates that Venezuela is still not prepared for an influx of infections that could drastically increase the number of COVID-19 patients in the country (17). On the other hand, the forms of mining exploration implemented by the Venezuelan government expose the Camponese, rural and indigenous populations south of Orenoco to the Orinoco Mining Arc megaproject, which created spaces for the transmission of goods, once mining activities did not cease. The distance between rural areas and urban centers constitutes a major problem for the acquisition of basic production factors, which contributes to the critical health situation and to the mobility and relocation of miners, constituting a challenge for the expansion of production. (18).

It should be noted that Venezuela is subject to trade sanctions imposed by the United States for years, which drastically affects its ability to resolve the crisis. The UN has spoken out about trade sanctions and demands that the US Government lift sanctions and that the Venezuelan Government present detailed plans to confront the crisis.
in the country (19). Finally, not Brazil witnessed the astonishing and unhappy finding of COVID-19 with Jair Messias Bolsonaro's central power. Since the first case was identified, in January 2020, the president has oscillated between denial and protocol action. Along with this we have daily problems, which increase political instability with significant internal and external repercussions on the country.

Thus, on March 20, the state of public calamity was decreed more by the pressure of two governors and the health minister than by the president's own vote. As a justification to avoid a serious economic crisis and social barbarism of the age, denying the lethal form of the virus and the necessary social distancing of the population. Com isso, let's just have the dismissal of two health ministers and a justice minister, who will not support their controversial measures regarding issues of corruption and preventive care for the health and life of Brazilians. The recent publicization of the recording, of a reserved meeting between the ministers, revealed interests in political intervention in the federal police that investigates the use of “fake news” in the presidential election. Revelou, também, a failure of the minister of the environment favorável to the advance of the wood industry and to the agrobusiness in Amazonia.

And so we realize that in full quarantine decreed by the governors of two states, it systematically advances in a criminal manner to the destruction of two natural assets in the Amazon and the Brazilian Cerrado, followed by selective assassinations of indigenous leaders, quilombolas and camponesas, especially women and young people. If on one side class hatred prevails that constitutes the Escravista colonial society, we have issues on the other.
On the other hand, responses come in the form of affirmative and autonomous actions spread throughout the country, such as:

1) Movimento dos Pequenos Agricultores (MPA), which in an organized way works on the distribution and marketing of food from rural family farming in middle cities;
2) Central Favelas Única, which sees working with da technologies
information and clarification on the need for protection and care in relation to the new coronavirus in popular communities in large metropolises such as São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, Recife and Salvador.

As a result of this announced tragedy we have a figure of 375 thousand infected and 24 thousand deaths, in South America and Brazil becoming the epicenter of COVID-19 in the world.

It is for this reason that the Grupo de Reflexão Crítica da América Latina makes this statement, to denounce the lack of empathy and awareness of two different governments to face the most serious problems that this crisis is revealing: the cases of abuse by public forces, the absence of prevention protocols, the lack of health protection, In the absence of support for people in vulnerable situations, among many other measures that deepen territorial inequalities and spatial injustices that our region has suffered for centuries. In this situation, we increase the cuts orçamentais in public education and technical sciences. In short, we consider it necessary and urgent to pay attention to the following problems that affect us transversally in the countries of Latin America:

1. Violation of human rights in food, especially for the most vulnerable populations. The population that lives in very dense urban areas has greater difficulties in accessing food. In rural areas, overexploration of resources and monopolization of land in large cities also makes it difficult to access healthy foods to face confinement. In consideration
   Solidarity economies, cooperatives and two small farmers would allow us to face the economic crisis and promote new marketing channels and other economies.
2. It prejudices the living conditions of those who survive by obtaining daily income. In this sense, we must ensure coverage of government policies with respect for male and female workers affected by the lack of informal work.
3. Guarantee of conditions worthy of employment and performance that allow people to face the quarantines in Latin American countries. As government policies turn the conditions of workers in the most precarious regions, an increase in deficiencies and infractions in labor codes has also been recorded. There is also a significant overload on workers who work long shifts and a lack of consideration for work and rest times, which can affect the mental and physical health of people. Likewise, it is important to give greater consideration to the working conditions involved in the measures that governments are implementing, and which may affect international treaties on labor.
4. The restriction of access to public spaces and recreational and recreational spaces is having important consequences in the social relations between people and community practices. An adequate management and territorial planning of the pandemic can allow, whenever possible, the confinement of the community, where people can access basic services in their villages, neighborhoods, cities, communities, etc., reducing the displacement necessary for the supply of individuals and families. This would also allow greater circulation of the local economy in these areas.
5. In the absence of access to an education that considers the multiculturalism of the Latin American population, in whose teaching and learning processes the transfer of territorial and ancestral knowledge that is developed through practice and in relationships with nature is not ensured. It is important to consider the cosmovision of both indigenous and tribal people as necessary ceremonial practices, which must be ensured by States and governments so that they are carried out safely, without affecting the spirituality and traditions of the indigenous, tribal and Afro-descendant population of the region.
6. Disheartening and imminent deterioration of the Camponesian economy due to authorized regulations, in full emergency, for the importation of food.
7. Genocide of our Amazonian indigenous people and rural communities, which are in imminent danger due to historical conditions of neglect and low capacity to respond to health systems in the region. Caused by historical fragments and omissions in these villages.
8. Pay attention to cases of domestic violence directed at women, children and children due to the situations of confinement and overcrowded housing, in which we live in thousands of countries in the region. There is a need for greater response capacity and channels to report or increase two cases.
9. Controlling the militarization and violence of police forces against the population that manifests itself in different territories, tends to account for the multiregional crisis that is being experienced in Latin America.
10. Pay attention to the freezing of external divisions in our countries, once we tend to consider the cessation of economic activities, as the living conditions of the poorest countries in Latin America are about to deteriorate.

Thus, as a Latin American Critical Geographic Thinking Group, we denounce the genocidal measures adopted by different regional governments, which are causing thousands of people to die and unworthy living conditions. The lack of attention to basic services, the health system and food security evidences the structural failures of a system that has entered into collapse.

The internal and external analyzes of the effects on the living conditions of the Caraíbas, Andean, Amazonian and Southern populations are similar and have serious impacts on the territories, which can substantially affect the survival of traditional and ancestral cultures.

We call for transparency in the number of processes carried out by governments and demand that the necessary measures be taken to control the health crisis experienced by our countries, taking into account international treaties and consideration of universal human rights.

May 31, 2020
CLACSO Working Group
Latin American Critical Geographical Thought

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This statement expresses the position of the Latin American Critical Geographical Thought Working Group and not necessarily that of the centers and institutions that make up the CLACSO international network, its Steering Committee or its Executive Secretariat.