The COVID-19 pandemic is the direct cause of death for hundreds of indigenous people in Latin America. Highlighting that governments have failed to control the spread of the virus due to both negligence and lack of preparation. But the former leaders who contributed to the economic model based on land concentration also fostered the catastrophic expansion of the coronavirus among indigenous communities.
Comparisons between the spread of COVID-19 in indigenous communities and the colonial ‘biological war’ are commonplace. But this may not be the most accurate comparison.
Indeed, biological warfare was one of the factors that allowed violent colonial domination over indigenous peoples. At the time, unknown diseases decimated and weakened communities, allowing the colonizers to impose a regime of violence, marginalization and exploitation. Biological warfare has contributed to the state of precariousness that has persisted over indigenous peoples for centuries.
