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  2020-04-08

  More Than 300 Groups in Abya Yala Demand Structural Change Due to COVID

  "“A coalition of more than 300 social, indigenous, peasant, union, and community organizations from multiple Latin American countries have launched a “’Call of the Original Peoples, Afro-descendants and Popular Organizations of Latin America’”, to make demands for immediate structural changes in the face of the global pandemic crisis…Indigenous, ethnic and social movement organizations recognize the urgency of correcting the economic course of our countries. The economic inertia of the neoliberal regimes that for more than 30 years have defined the path of our countries, has definitely entered a crisis. The dismantling of the public health system, without the installation of adequate services to respond to the current COVID-19 pandemic, has shown that the course followed places life on this planet at risk. Some governments in the region, instead of protective measures, have opted for authoritarian measures, militarization, economic cuts, and massive layoffs. They highlight how this crisis has exposed the brutality of patriarchal violence against women and sexual diversities, further increasing the exclusion of “’indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples exposed to facing the pandemic in conditions of extreme vulnerability.’”"
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  2020-04-06

  The Garifuna People of Honduras Seek Community Solutions to Pandemic

  “We are living moments we never believed our generation would live. We are facing a pandemic similar to that of many centuries ago, where so many people died, millions of people. Right now, millions of people are not dying, but there is no record yet…We must recognize that we are not prepared, as a humanity, to face this coronavirus. Not even the most perfect health system has the capacity to face it, like countries up north, for example. But not only because we do not have the capacity to face it, but because we have been creating patterns and life system that make us more vulnerable as a humanity. It is a pattern and a model of life that is disrespectful towards nature. As human beings, we think we are above other living beings. Now a virus has arrived that keeps us confined to our homes, and the only thing we say we can do at a planetary level is: stay home….As a response and as a safeguard for our communities, since March 17 we began to create COVID-19 Service Centers within our communities. In other words, networks began to be created within the community to organize the community’s response to COVID-19.”
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  2020-05-12

  Indigenous Health Manuals: A Contribution to the Pandemic

  ”In this pandemic, indigenous peoples are recovering their ancestral heritage and sharing it generously with humanity. Although, in principle, it must be explicitly said that there is no cure for COVID-19, there are some natural remedies, herbs, that can help alleviate symptoms, and even reinforce the immune system, recovery, and recovery process after infection. This is where this knowledge helps, and it is possible to responsibly recommend the use of indigenous herbalism (which is the precursor base of modern chemical medicine).”