With the advance of cases of the Covid-19 pandemic in the State of Roraima, the intense mobilizations in the communities to close their entrances have intensified stronger and stronger, without help from the state and with great concern the leaders seek alternatives to interrupt the proliferation of the virus in indigenous lands.
With this objective, indigenous leaders from the border between Brazil and Guyana met on April 10 on the banks of the Tacutu River for a partnership in the hope of curbing the contamination of the Coronavirus among border communities. Being on the Brazilian side; pium, cachoeirinha do sapo-Manoá Pium and Jacamim indigenous land, Serra da Lua region, municipality of Bonfim and Guyana more than 21 communities; Igarapé da areia, Potaronau, Pato, Ambrósio and among others - close to the City of Lethen belonging to the capital Georgetown.
Indigenous leader Joacy Alexandre stressed that this partnership between them has always occurred, before in the fight against crime and smuggling and now in the fight against the invisible enemy COVID-19.
"The relatives of the neighboring communities on the Guyanese side have partnered with us to protect their territories, a dialogue that we have had for a long time, on the Guyanese side, several trees were felled by the agents themselves in order to prevent the passage of motorcycles, cars and bicycles," said Joacy.
At the meeting, the deputy tuxaua Pedro Alexandre, from the Pium community, highlighted that the moment is important and with the union of the peoples they will interrupt the passage of people at the borders between the communities. In all, there are eight entrances that give access through the border.
"We have closed all exits from the Manoá-Pium indigenous land, no one leaves and no one has entered for more than 24 days, so we count on this help now to prevent anyone from entering the border," said the tuxaua.
To help in this control, the Protection and Surveillance Group are the ones who are on the front line of this action, the contact between them occurs via radio and social networks. What helps in this dialogue is that both sides are predominantly of the Wapichana language.
During the meeting, the tuxaua Carl Albert, from the Potaronau Community, accompanied by the councilors of the communities of Guyana, read a document as a measure to restrict the passage of people between April 3 and May 3 between the communities of Guyana, supported at the time of reading by the communities of Brazil.
In the document, he made it clear that if anyone disrespects these measures, they will be arrested and fined by the Guyana Police Force.
And he reaffirmed his position;
"We don't want our people to be contaminated. So it is forbidden for people from the Pataronau community (Guyana) to come to cross the border. And people leaving Pium (Brazil) for Potaronau will also not be allowed, until the quarantine period ends," he pointed out.
Covid-19 situation in Roraima
The growth of the Coronavirus has increased rapidly, according to the epidemiological bulletin released on April 12, there are 83 registered cases, and among these an indigenous man of the Yanomami ethnic group who died on April 9, given the circumstances of the moment it is more than important that communities organize themselves to prevent the Virus, because, so far, there have been no confirmed cases within the indigenous communities.
Photos: Joacy Alexandre