Achuar accuse spread of illegal logging, request from foreign community
Last modified March 1, 2020 13. 57 BST
Climate change and multinationals have long posed a risk to the population of the Amazon rainforest; today, however, indigenous tribes in the region face an even more immediate danger: coronavirus.
Although they live in the center of the Ecuadorian jungle, the other indigenous people of the Achuar tribe have been victims of the pandemic. In recent weeks, Covid-19 has struck at the center of Ecuador’s Achuar community, which is made up of another 13,000 people. people living on 88 teams on 800,000 hectares (3,000 square miles) along the Pastaza River basin. Another 15,000 Achuar are founded in neighboring Peru.
So far eight Achuar have died in Ecuador, a four-month-old baby, and about 90% of the country’s Achuar have become inflamed to date.
Ecuador has been a hot spot for the virus in Latin America, with more than 110,000 reported cases and nearly 6,500 reported deaths.
Perhaps the Achuar that other people only had hoped to remain intact, but that hope expired about 3 months ago, according to Tiyua Uyunkar, president of the Achuar nation. The initial epidemic began in “near-road” communities, Uyunkar said. himself sick and whose mother is now very ill.
“The first road contact with the Achuar territory is very close to the town of Puyo,” said Uyunkar, who blames the illegal forest companies. It is his workers, he said, who brought Covid-19 to this island tribal nation. ” loggers traveled, arrived here, left town and returned to the community.
Indigenous peoples such as the Achuar are incredibly vulnerable to disease due to their geographical isolation, as well as inequality, exclusion and discrimination in public services.
Their location means they face serious diagnostic and solution challenges, while quarantine restrictions have led to shortages of food and basic supplies.
With little government support, the Achuar fought with enough non-public evidence, medicines and protective devices to combat the epidemic. They are now looking for the foreign network for much-needed help, medical supplies, education, and transportation. what we can because this virus is terrible for indigenous peoples, ” said Uyunkar.
As in many indigenous tribes, life in Achuar communities revolves around elders who are respected and guilty for the transmission of their traditions. “We need the lives of our elders because they are so important. If they die, our culture, language and history will also die,” Uyunkar said.
There were no official identity documents for the Achuar until the 1960s, that the maximum elders did not know their age, however, Uyunkar estimated that some were in the mid-1990s.
Skilled hunters and fishermen, Achuar themselves are the largest defenders of the jungle. “We are the protectors of the jungle. If indigenous peoples disappear with this virus, the jungle will be in danger and will also disappear,” Uyunkar said.
“If the guardians disappear, the forestry and oil corporations will think that the Amazon is free. It is a very unhappy component of this virus, but of course we will fight. I cannot say we will win, but we will do our most productive to fight this virus. “.
Despite being incredibly limited to technology, tribal leaders posted a video call on YouTube for everything from medicine and medical education to transportation and signal amplifiers for phones, the Internet and radio.
A close circle of relatives, neighborhoods, and a networked way of life mean the disease is spreading rapidly, according to Uyunkar, who is 28 years old and has two wives and 8 children. together. “
Under the direction of local shamans, families wake up every day before dawn and gather for a stimulating guava tea to induce vomiting, which they say has a purifying effect.