The COVID threat from Brazil requires more robust action

Dear Editor,
Decisions taken by the Region 9 COVID-19 Health Emergency Committee, to further reduce movement in the South Rupununi, are welcome. Thanks to resolute action by toshaos in the South, national authorities are beginning to acknowledge the seriousness of the situation.
The Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) understands that this realisation originated in the stand-off between communities and the authorities over miners being prevented from transiting the communities en route to their mine-sites.
Last Sunday, a truck driver/miner forced his way through checkpoints on the basis of being given permission by the Regional Executive Officer (REO) and the Lethem Police. The decisions taken at yesterday’s meeting tacitly acknowledge the legal authority of toshaos and village councils to determine who should access their communities.
The REO of Region 9 had acknowledged issuing passes to facilitate truck drivers avoiding the curfew, and had accused the toshaos of exceeding their authority.
Although the REO is reported as stating that such letters were issued only to persons in possession of a prior letter issued by “either the Ministry of Natural Resources or the Guyana Geology & Mines Commission (GGMC)”, senior spokespersons in the Ministry are unaware of any such letters having been issued.
The action of the toshaos is hopefully setting the pace for the COVID-19 Task Force to adopt a far more stringent approach to the problem of Brazil being the most vulnerable and porous route for a major COVID-19 invasion of Guyana. The Bolsonaro Government’s irresponsible behaviour in dismissing the virus as “a slight flu” has caused Brazilian death rates to become the seventh highest in the world — currently averaging 1000 + per day, with Manaus being an epicentre.
Moreover, the ease with which people can cross the Takutu river and enter Guyana, despite the border being officially closed, suggests that the security problem is still being addressed in a reactive, rather than pro-active, manner.
As with the initial response to the toshaos, authorities needed the stimulus of the COVID-infected Brazilian who passed through many communities before they took action. It is also noteworthy that Police in Lethem have warned they would start to prosecute people who breach the curfew. If the intention is to enforce lawful behaviour, why not bring legal charges against miners and the COVID-infected person, who reportedly was tested positive in Brazil then visited a string of villages in Guyana.
The vulnerability of Indigenous communities to the COVID-19 virus cannot be overstated. If the virus should really take hold in the Rupununi, it definitely would then spread throughout the entire country. The call from the Chairman of Region 9 for a complete lockdown of Lethem from coastal contact reflects the only realistic strategy.
The controversial issue of mining being declared an ‘essential service’ is at the centre of this problem. Many ordinary Guyanese are struggling to provide for their families while abiding by the lockdown, while miners driving 500 miles through Amerindian communities, putting many people at serious risk en route, is considered an essential activity.

This kind of contradiction discredits the official anti-COVID-19 strategy, fosters indignation, and needs to be addressed urgently. The situation described herein reinforces the need to remove mining and mining-related activities from the List of Essential Services which are exempted from COVID-19 restrictions. The Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) is therefore calling on the COVID-19 Task Force to take immediate steps to address all of the issues which have surfaced in Region 9 in particular:
i) The removal of mining and all mining-related activities from the List of Essential Services.
ii) The significant increase of security at border crossings across Regions 8 & 9.
iii) The laying of charges against persons whose behaviours recklessly and knowingly infect others.

Executive Committee,
Guyana Human
Rights Association