Indigenous leader calls for help in Brazil's biggest reserve

Indigenous leader calls for help in Brazil's biggest reserve

SeattlePI.com

Published

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — As the coronavirus spreads into indigenous lands in Brazil, killing at least 40 people so far by the government's count, the first two COVID-19 deaths were registered this week in the Xingu area, one of the biggest reserves in the world.

The two fatalities were in the Kayapo indigenous group, which has reported a total of 22 virus cases. The community's leader, Megaron, told The Associated Press he wants President Jair Bolsonaro and other officials to stop loggers, miners and fishermen from illegally entering the territory, incursions he believes have sped up the spread of the virus.

Bolsonaro has encouraged development in the Amazon, regardless of indigenous lands, although the state-run indigenous agency, FUNAI, issued an order in mid-March barring access to those lands because of the virus. Still, reports in Brazilian media have said missionaries, health care agents, loggers and miners carried the virus into those areas.

“It is not us that are leaving and taking (the virus). There are people seizing this disease to invade indigenous land,” Megaron said.

He received questions from AP on May 13, but his team wasn’t able to get his response back until Wednesday due to their remote location in Xingu, which covers more than 2,600,000 hectares (more than 10,000 square miles) in the middle of Brazil. It is home to more than 5,500 indigenous people of 14 ethnic groups.

Megaron, who is a nephew of acclaimed environmentalist Raoni Metuktire, said his community now lives in fear because of the coronavirus.

“It is the government's obligation to take care of our land, our community, give us help, care, even more now because this disease is killing a lot of people. Our request is to be isolated in our village until the government or the health...

Full Article