Disaster looms for indigenous Amazon tribes as COVID-19 cases multiply
Published 15 Jun 2020, 11:13 BST
A member of the Karapanã ethnic group wears a hand-sewn face mask, hoping for protection against the virus.
A leader of the Miranha tribe wears a traditional headdress and a face mask that reads Indigenous Lives Matter. The Miranha are among dozens of Amazonian tribes brutalized by plantation owners in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Many died from epidemic diseases introduced by the colonists.
Vanda Ortega, 33, an ethnic Witoto, has been outspoken in denouncing government neglect of her people, including the undercounting of indigenous patients infected with COVID-19.
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