Indigenous peoples in the context of COVID-19 in Guatemala
Felipe Gómez, Maya K'iche'’, Jeremiah Hernandez, Luis Ochoa Fuentes[1]
“The Sun, Grandmother Moon, the mountains, the forests, the animals, and the birds communicate events to human beings to prevent, correct, and improve the balance with Sacred Mother Earth and with the Universe. At the beginning of this year, Grandmother Moon, in the Sacred Ancestral Fire, and in the dreams of the wise men and women, announced serious problems against the life of Mother Earth and illnesses affecting human health. The call is to respect the life of Mother Earth, the mountains, forests, rivers, animals, birds, and the lives of human beings,” Felipe Gómez, Maya K'iche'
The Working Committee for the Defense of Territories of Life of the ICCA Consortium and collaborators of the Working Group on Indigenous Peoples and Extractive Projects of CLACSO in Guatemala, write our words on the coronavirus pandemic and the impact on the lives of Indigenous Peoples.
In Guatemala, the Mayan, Ladino-Mestizo, Xinka, and Garifuna peoples coexist, with a population of over 18 million inhabitants, the majority being descendants of the Mayan people, sharing a history, culture, identity, systems of life, and ancient knowledge.
Since the invasion, colonization, and commodification systematically imposed through the country's laws and institutions, millions of inhabitants live in poverty and extreme poverty, with a high degree of vulnerability to health problems and malnutrition. The most affected populations are Indigenous and peasant communities.
The political, social, and economic system is controlled by an elite, making it a "captured state"; meanwhile, corruption and nepotism have permeated virtually every aspect of public institutions. In this context, the people had to confront the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The new disease and its impact on our lives
In the first half of March 2020, the first positive case of coronavirus in the country was officially announced, along with the quarantine and the "stay at home" campaign, limiting the movement of Guatemalans from their communities, municipalities and departments.
Globally, the disease had already spread, and many countries were reporting dozens of deaths daily, as well as the collapse of their healthcare systems. A large percentage of human activity came to a standstill, providing a respite for Mother Earth, a break from so much destruction and pollution caused by humans, but especially by large extractive industries that privatize natural resources.
From the communities and institutions of the Indigenous Peoples, concerns have arisen that the panic campaign, the quarantine, the state of emergency, and the curfew were the most perverse way for the economic elite to exploit the crisis, profiting from the resources that the State would allocate to various services such as education, health, electricity, and other public services. In fact, a smear campaign has been launched against the few institutions that have not been privatized, such as the Guatemalan Social Security Institute and public education.
The pandemic revealed that public institutions and the health system are unprepared to handle an emergency. Two months after announcing the first cases of the disease, the government has not presented or developed territorial strategies for the prevention, treatment, and eradication of the pandemic in Indigenous communities; nor are there any specific actions to assist residents of the most remote communities.
Most positive COVID-19 cases have originated from people who traveled abroad or had contact with someone who did. Another significant risk factor for the spread of the disease is migrant families, who have left their communities to work in other countries and provide for their families. Amid the crisis, the United States also increased deportations of migrants without ensuring health or hygiene measures, despite being the country with the most positive cases and deaths from the coronavirus. Many cases in Indigenous communities have resulted from returning migrants who, upon arrival, find no effective measures to determine whether they have been infected, thus preventing them from bringing the virus back to their communities and potentially infecting their families. The flow of remittances to these communities has also decreased since the start of the pandemic, impacting the livelihoods of thousands of families.
The measures to address the emergency were implemented from the top down, from the perspective of an economic elite and the government, without considering the social and commercial dynamics within communities. People were unable to go to work, and the hours of farmers' and community markets were limited, but supermarkets and retail chains were guaranteed to remain open. Thousands of people could no longer sell at markets or in their small businesses. Those who had some form of employment, which guaranteed them food each day, lost their jobs, particularly affecting those who could no longer travel from their communities to their workplaces or to sell their products.
Although the government guaranteed that the food industry and other key sectors of the economy would continue operating, household finances were the first to be affected. People were unable to generate income to ensure their food security, and just a week after the measures were implemented, food shortages were already occurring, especially in impoverished urban areas and some rural communities. Two months into the pandemic, it is common to see people with white flags on roadsides or in the city, asking for food assistance to cope with the crisis they are experiencing. There are fears that acute and chronic malnutrition will worsen in the coming months, particularly in the poorest communities and those located within the so-called "dry corridor," which are mostly Indigenous communities. The start of the rainy season in late April and early May could also pose a greater risk to the population with outbreaks of seasonal illnesses.
Meanwhile, large corporations continued operating in the territories. Extractive projects such as mining, hydroelectric dam construction, and the installation of high-voltage power lines, as well as monoculture plantations of oil palm and sugarcane, and the Interoceanic Corridor project, continued operating and even increased their activities during the quarantine. Various communities report that these companies continued their activities, even during curfew hours. Many of these companies have expired permits, or there are legal actions in place that favor Indigenous communities and prohibit any activity on their territories. With the mobility and movement restrictions imposed by the government, it has been more difficult to continue actions in defense of these territories and their defenders. At the same time, acts of intimidation, threats, and coercion against leaders, Indigenous and community authorities, as well as against various peasant organizations, social activists, and even journalists, have increased.
Access to information about the pandemic has been limited by the government. President Alejandro Giammattei began broadcasting national information addresses, but has not held press conferences to answer more specific questions from journalists. Access to information sources has been restricted, and corporate media outlets have been given preferential treatment. Meanwhile, journalists who have reported on these actions or revealed corruption in emergency procurement have been intimidated or threatened. For their part, community radio stations and other digital media have provided information that reveals the situation in communities, showing how people are organizing to confront the crisis, as well as information on local cases that the government does not report.
Women have experienced the pandemic differently. Violence against women and sexual assault have also increased during the pandemic, with many women forced to live with their abusers, either at home or in their communities, due to lockdown measures. Women also face greater pressure from increased housework, caring for vulnerable people (children and the elderly), and the demands of providing daily food for their families. Meanwhile, many children are also sexually abused or experience domestic violence, cases that often go unreported.
The government has prioritized providing support to maintain macroeconomic stability, allocating financial resources to large corporations. Loans were authorized from international banks and bond issuances were made to provide the government with resources to address the pandemic, but there are reports of low disbursement of these funds because officials are allegedly trying to rig procurement processes to benefit specific companies.
Ten programs were created to support the population, workers, and small and medium-sized businesses. However, the mechanisms for delivering this support have yet to be finalized. One of the established programs is the Family Bonus, which will provide financial assistance to families; however, the electricity bill was established as the criterion for creating the beneficiary database, a measure criticized for prioritizing the use of a business database to determine eligibility. In fact, many of the poorest people in the country would be excluded from this aid, as they lack access to electricity. This includes most indigenous communities and villages.
We, the Mayan peoples, point out that prioritizing the business sector with government programs is another manifestation of the level of racism and discrimination that the Guatemalan State maintains towards indigenous peoples and communities; it is a symptom of the State's complicity in the plunder and dispossession that these projects entail.
The hope of communities and peoples
Despite the health and economic crisis affecting communities, solidarity initiatives and new forms of support have also been strengthened. These include collecting food to help families or communities in quarantine; collective self-monitoring to prevent the pandemic from infecting community members; and the role of community authorities who have been able to implement specific measures to protect people's lives and health.
Mayan spirituality remains alive and well within the communities. During this time of quarantine, spiritual guides, both men and women, are going to altars, ceremonial centers, and sacred sites to offer ceremonial materials, prayers of gratitude, and petitions for personal, family, and community health. They ask that food not be lacking and that the roots, plants, fruits, and natural herbs heal and protect the immune systems of the people. In this context, Grandmother Moon communicates that during the New Moon and Full Moon, special care should be taken to protect the health of newborns, the elderly, and the elderly.
The pandemic has also allowed us to reflect on the urgent need to strengthen local organization; to manage information independently; to resume traditional measures to preserve collective health, as well as to produce a diversity of healthy foods and to care for native seeds.
In the two months that the pandemic has affected the country, communities and urban areas have seen a greater awareness of the importance of caring for the land, seeds, planting, and diversifying food as a key element for survival. Roots, plants, fruits, and various types of herbs are now recognized as our food and our medicine for good health.
More and more people are reflecting on the fact that our existence, both in our communities and as city dwellers, depends on the care and defense of our territories, our land, our mountains, our forests, and our rivers. They believe that humanity must return to its true origins, that without Mother Earth and all her elements, humankind has no future. They understand that the selfish, privatizing, mercantilist, destructive, and monopolistic economic model is an evil that we must eradicate for the sake of future generations.
[1] Felipe Gómez, Maya K'iche'´, Oxlajuj B'aqtun Mayan Science Research Center, Member of the Board of Directors of the ICCA Consortium especially for Mesoamerica and the Caribbean, Collaborating Member of the CLACSO Working Group on Indigenous Peoples and Extractive Projects. Jeremiah Hernandez, Technical Coordination of the Central of Indigenous Peasant Organizations Ch'orti' Nuevo Día. Luis Ochoa FuentesJournalist and social researcher. Member of the Committee for the Defense of Territories of Life and Defenders of the ICCA Consortium and the CLACSO Working Group on Indigenous Peoples and Extractive Projects. Email: [email protected].
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