Brazils President Jair Bolsonaro greets supporters upon arrival at Planalto Palace in Brasilia, on May 24, 2020. (Photo by AFP)
President Jair Bolsonaro threatened on Friday to pull Brazil out of the World Health Organization after the UN agency warned Latin American governments about the risk of lifting lockdowns before slowing the spread of the novel coronavirus throughout the region.
A new Brazilian record for daily COVID-19 fatalities pushed the countys death toll past that of Italy late on Thursday, but Bolsonaro continues to argue for quickly lifting state isolation orders, arguing that the economic costs outweigh public health risks.
Latin Americas most populous nations, Brazil and Mexico, are seeing the highest rates of new infections, though the pandemic is also gathering pace in countries such as Peru, Colombia, Chile and Bolivia.
Overall, more than 1.1 million Latin Americans have been infected. While most leaders have taken the pandemic more seriously than Bolsonaro, some politicians that backed strict lockdowns in March and April are pushing to open economies back up as hunger and poverty grow.
In an editorial running the length of newspaper Folha de S.Paulos front page, the Brazilian daily highlighted that just 100 days had passed since Bolsonaro described the virus now "killing a Brazilian per minute" as "a little flu."
"While you were reading this, another Brazilian died from the coronavirus," the newspaper said.
Brazils Health Ministry reported late on Thursday that confirmed cases in the country had climbed past 600,000 and 1,437 deaths had been registered within 24 hours, the third consecutive daily record.
Brazil reported another 1,005 deaths Friday night, while Mexico reported 625 additional deaths.
With more than 35,000 lives lost, the pandemic has killed more people in Brazil than anywhere outside of the United States and the United Kingdom.
Asked about efforts to loosen social distancing orders in Brazil despite rising daily death rates and diagnoses, World Health Organization (WHO) spokeswoman Margaret Harris said a key criteria for lifting lockdowns was slowing transmission.
"The epidemic, the outbreak, in Latin America is deeply, deeply concerning," she told a news conference in Geneva. Among six key criteria for easing quarantines, she said, "one of them is ideally having your transmission declining."
In comments to journalists later Friday, Bolsonaro said Brazil will consider leaving the WHO unless it ceases to be a "partisan political organization."
President Donald Trump, an ideological ally of Bolsonaro, said last month that the United States would end its own relationship with the WHO, accusing it of becoming a puppet of China, where the coronavirus first emerged.
Bolsonaros dismissal of the coronavirus risks to public health and efforts to lift state quarantines have drawn criticism from across the political spectrum in Brazil, where some accuse him of using the crisis to undermine democratic institutions.
But many of those critics are divided about the safety and effectiveness of anti-government demonstrations in the middle of a pandemic, especially after one small protest was met with an overwhelming show of police force last weekend.
Alfonso Vallejos Parás, an epidemiologist and professor of public health at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, said infections are high in Latin America as the virus was slow to gain a foothold in the region.
"It is hard to estimate when the pace of infection will come down," he said.
Bolsonaro using virus against indigenous people: Leader
The impact of the new coronavirus has spared no one in Brazil, including in the Amazon rainforest, where iconic indigenous leader Raoni Metuktire accuses Bolsonaro of using the pandemic to eradicate his people.
Known for his colorful feather headdresses and the large disc inserted in his lower lip, chief Raoni is one of the most famous defenders of the Amazon and the indigenous peoples who live there.
Now in his 90s, he has traveled the world raising awareness about the threat posed by deforestation.
But he is riding out the coronavirus pandemic in his village in the heart of the rainforest, where he spoke to AFP by video call.
The chief, a member of the Kayapo ethnicity, did not mince words as he criticized Bolsonaro for the far-right presidents treatment of Brazils indigenous peoples and handling of the pandemic.
"Bolsonaro wants to take advantage of this disease. Hes saying, Indians have to die, we have to finish them off," he said, speaking through an interpreter.
Bolsonaro has faced criticism for pushing to open protected Amazon lands to farming and mining, which he argues would benefit indigenous communities.
Indigenous leaders and activists are skeptical, however, and have condemned the president for some of his comments, including that indigenous people "are becoming more and more human, just like us."
Bolsonaro has likewise faced criticism for his handling of the pandemic, which he continues to downplay even as the number of deaths soars in Brazil.
Indigenous peoples in the Amazon are particularly vulnerable to diseases from the outside world.
There are mounting fears for their safety as the virus surges in Brazil, which has now registered more than 34,000 deaths, the third-highest toll worldwide, after the United States and Britain.
The Amazon region is one of the hardest-hit, including its indigenous inhabitants, who have a COVID-19 mortality rate twice as high as non-indigenous Brazilians.
At least 211 indigenous Brazilians have been killed and 2,178 infected by the virus, according to the Brazilian Indigenous Peoples Association (APIB).
Human-rights officials from the United Nations and Organization of American States warned Thursday the virus poses a "grave risk" to Amazon indigenous communities.
"This disease called coronavirus is very dangerous. It has starting killing my people, in every region," Raoni said.
But Bolsonaro, he added, "doesnt care about us."
Despite the "shoddy health services" available to his people, the president has done nothing to improve them, he said.
Blocked aid
Raoni, who has lobbied world leaders and campaigned with the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger, James Cameron and Sting, said he planned to stay in his village, Metuktire, in Brazils Mato Grosso state, until the danger has receded.
"I will only leave my village when things go back to normal," he said.
"Im very worried about my people. I tell them to stay in the village, not to go the city... but some of them dont listen."
In some cases, villagers returning home have brought the virus with them. That includes the village of Gorotire, where five residents have died of COVID-19, he said.
French environmental group Amazon Planet has collected 43,000 euros (nearly $50,000) to help indigenous communities observe stay-at-home measures and avoid leaving their villages for food and supplies.
But 10 tonnes of food and hygiene products it is trying to ship to the Kayapo have been blocked in what the groups president, Gert-Peter Bruch, called "a criminal excess of bureaucracy."
Land grab
The pandemic forced chief Raoni to cancel a trip to Brasilia, where he was due to pressure officials on another issue vital to indigenous communities, official recognition of their lands.
The Brazilian governments agency for indigenous affairs, FUNAI, recently opened 237 indigenous territories to settlers because they had not been officially recognized by presidential decree.
That land alone covers an area the size of Portugal.
"No, that cant happen," Raoni said.
"Our land cannot be occupied by invaders" -- loggers, farmers and illegal gold-miners, he said.
That brought him back to Bolsonaro. "He needs to recognize our lands," he said.
(Source: News agencies)
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