12. Coronavirus (virtual chapter)
Abstract
This is a virtual chapter that will be built up in this web-page and included in the next edition of the Voices of Latin America book.
The spread of Covid-19 across the region; the very different approaches taken by the various governments –from full-on denial such as that of Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil, to the pro-active caution of governments in Argentina, Costa Rica and others; the effects in terms of numbers of infections and deaths; the experience of particular populations, especially indigenous and rural communities; and the effects upon the economy, employment, the self-employed and the poor
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Index
News about this chapter
Amazonas appeals for global help
In a letter describing pandemic conditions as “dire,” the government of Brazil’s Amazonas state is pleading for urgent medical assistance from the international community. The authenticated letter apparently bypassed the Bolsonaro administration which critics say has been ineffectual in dealing with COVID-19.
New threats to Brazil’s indigenous people
The city of Manaus made world headlines last April when a first wave of the coronavirus swept through the city. Now that city, and the entire state of Amazonas, is being swept by a second wave of the pandemic, which is shaping up to be far worse than the first.
Public Enemy No.1 is Jair Bolsonaro
22 January 2021. All over the world leaders have celebrated the beginning of vaccination in their countries, some of them taking the first jab themselves. But when the first vaccines were administered in São Paulo on Sunday, Jair Bolsonaro sulked in silence in his palace, because not only had his arch political rival, São Paulo governor João Doria, upstaged him, but the vaccine used was the Chinese Coronavac, which he had repeatedly belittled and disparaged and stopped the Health Ministry from acquiring.
The government’s own vaccination programme lies in tatters, thanks not only to the unbelievable incompetence of the general...
No carnival in Recife
While in the English-speaking world the annual pre-lenten extravaganza is usually called 'Carnival', with an 'i', in Brazil is it 'Carnaval'.
Covid must be bad in Brazil, even carnivals are being postponed. My favourite, Recife, will not take place in February. A new date of 9–17 July has been set, but even this may be cancelled.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSjU_UhN-HI
2020 Carnival in Olinda/Recife. Video: OneMayWolfPack, Feb 25 2020
This is not the first time Recife has thought about such a drastic step. In February 1926 the government refused to permit the usual pre-carnival processions and rumours circulated that carnival might be banned. Then it was...
Haitians revolt against president’s ‘state terrorism’
Haiti is not unfamiliar with violent uprisings. However, since the US-backed installation of Jovenel Moïse in 2004, unrest has been relentless, with violence and repression reaching a bloody crescendo in recent weeks.
Videos
Emily Gregg is a LAB correspondent and author. She lived in Arica, Chile, until returning to the UK because of the pandemic. She also wrote The Student Revolution chapter in LAB’s book Voices of Latin America (2019).
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Interviewees
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References
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Further reading
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