Amâncio Ikõ Munduruku, Chief Vicente and Martinho Borõ
Amâncio Ikõ Munduruku was one of the principal leaders of the Munduruku of the middle Tapajós. He spent his life fighting for his people’s access to healthcare, specific education, territory and identity. He founded the Munduruku Pariri Association in 1998, fundamental in the struggle for the rights of the Munduruku people. Taken ill, he had to wait for three days before an intensive care bed was made available 550 miles away in the state capital, Belém; by then his oxygen levels had fallen so severely he had to wait another night, because he would not have survived the flight. “We do not want my father to die on his own,” said his son Arlisson Ikõ Biatpu. Their family had to fight so that Arlisson’s brother André could be allowed to accompany his father to Belém.
Amâncio’s village, Praia do Mangue, is located on the outskirts of the town of Itaituba on the middle Tapajós, which, with over a hundred thousand people, had only four intensive care beds until last week, when a hospital was at last inaugurated (it is still not entirely finished). Approximately one thousand Munduruku live in the middle Tapajós region.
Along the upper Tapajós, where approximately 13 thousand Munduruku live, the closest town – population eight thousand – is Jacareacanga. Its hospital has no intensive care beds and so far, no Munduruku admitted there with covid has left the hospital alive. This has led some Munduruku families to bar their relatives from being sent there.
The rapid spread of covid-19 among Munduruku villages on the upper Tapajós has a lot to do with the penetration of goldmining operations in the region. In April, as SARS-CoV-2 spread, one of the Munduruku territories (Terra Indígena Munduruku) was the most deforested of all indigenous lands in Brazil as illegal goldminers took advantage of the Brazilian government’s tacit approval: security forces were stopped from being deployed in actions to control invasions of traditionally occupied territories and public lands. Following the lead from Brazil’s (anti)-minister for the Environment, Ricardo Salles – who at a cabinet meeting on April 22 suggested the pandemic be used as an opportunity to erode environmental protections while the press looked the other way – invaders have not gone on lockdown, but rather have been making the most of this moment to further their gains.
After goldminers held a demonstration in Jacareacanga and encouraged the Munduruku from nearby villages, including Sai Cinza, to take part, Chief Vicente – who had not left his village – contracted the virus and died. Taken to Jacareacanga for treatment, he was not able to consult a shaman before dying, and was buried there, instead of in his village. This represents a traumatic breach of custom, as Munduruku traditions hold that the dead need to be kept close and looked after by the living.
Martinho Borõ was an historian, teacher and authority. Flown to Jacareacanga from his village on the Tropas River (a tributary of the upper Tapajós), with breathing difficulties, he was given the controversial drug hydroxychloroquine, which Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, has insisted on promoting. Ministry of Health guidelines stipulate that the consent of patients and/or their families is needed, but it is doubtful whether Martinho would have been in a position to agree, while his companion is not likely to have been fluent in Portuguese. It is said to have worsened his condition.
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Bruna Rocha Rosamaria Loures | Radio Free (2020-07-21T17:15:10+00:00) In Amazonia, libraries are being set alight. Retrieved from https://www.radiofree.org/2020/07/21/in-amazonia-libraries-are-being-set-alight/
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