Unless one means “we are all in this together” literally, like during the times of the trans-Atlantic slave trade and slave-based economies in the European-colonized lands of the Americas, then no we are not “all in this together”. Covid19 – and its varying direct and indirect impacts on humans inside nations and between nations across the planet – is exposing profound fault-lines of wealth and power / exploitation-poverty and powerlessness, and of racism.
Rights Action’s priority work now is providing emergency support funds to community-based partner in Guatemala and Honduras. This Covid19 response work is about saving lives. The funds we are sending are drops in a bucket, and they are important. Our work is also to contribute to discussion and hopefully empower political activism premised on the basic notion that: We are not “all in this together” / There should be no “getting back to normal”.
In our unjust, unequal, oftentimes violent global human order, Honduras and Guatemala are countries of historic, systemic pandemics: The pandemics of exploitation and poverty; of landlessness, hunger and no access to water; of dengue and malnutrition; of military-backed government corruption and repression; and, today, of Covid19. All these pandemics are inter-related. Focusing on one pandemic - Covid19 - without an integral understanding and strategy, can only deepen and reinforce the “normal” systemic pandemics. There will be even more people living with hunger, lack of water and dengue …
(Adapted from statement by Dr. Juan Almendares Bonilla)
The most misleading cliche about Covid19 is that it treats us all the same. It doesn’t, neither medically nor economically, socially or psychologically. In particular, Covid-19 exacerbates preexisting conditions of inequality wherever it arrives. Before long, this will cause social turmoil, up to and including uprisings and revolutions.
(Andreas Kluth)
Here: Another batch of arbitrarily selected stories.
Below: How to donate to Rights Action’s Covid19 Response Fund
U.S. gov’t to defund WHO
CODEPINK @codepink (April 14, 2020): Just when we thought things couldn't get any worse, Trump announced that he is defunding the World Health Organization. During a global pandemic. We need #HealthcareNOTWarfare!
“Trump halts World Health Organization funding over handling of coronavirus outbreak”
By Betsy Klein and Jennifer Hansler, CNN, April 14, 2020
Woman, forced to flee community threatened by Aura Minerals’ gold mine in Honduras, living undocumented in New York, contracts Covid19
(Whassap texts from Azacualpa Environmental Defense committee)
Esta señora es de azacualpa. es inmigrante forzada. el año pasado se fue en caravana. Su nombre es Reina. Partió como migrante el pasado julio de 2019 por la dura situación en nuestra comunidad. Llego a New York y allá reside. Hace como 7 días tiene síntomas de Covid 19. No tiene atención médica ya que en esta ciudad la prioridad es para los residentes en E.U dejando en vulnerabilidad a los indocumentados. No la atendieron en hospital de New York pero hay gente que le está llevando comida y medicamento.
Protesting for food
Honduras Solidarity Network: Road blockades & protests in the Lopez Arellano sector of Choloma (“the sweatshop city of Honduras”). Residents demanding food & supplies in a department on complete lockdown with highest #COVID19 infection rates in country
Military-enforced curfew in Guatemala. No health support
“Coronavirus en Guatemala: hay 100 respiradores para 16 millones de personas. Y los indígenas sólo pueden recurrir a ritos ancestrales”
Abril 10, 2020, por Albinson Linares
Guatemala ha impuesto estrictas medidas de cuarentena, como el toque de queda militar, la suspensión total de clases y transporte público, el cese de las actividades no esenciales, el cierre de fronteras y el uso de mascarillas en la vía pública, entre otras. […]
El 31 de marzo, la ONU advertía que el gobierno guatemalteco solo destina un 2% del PIB para inversiones en el sector salud, muy por debajo del 6% recomendado por la Organización Mundial de la Salud. Además, solo cuenta con 7,5 médicos y 6 enfermeras por cada 10,000 habitantes cuando el estándar recomendado es de “al menos 25 trabajadores de salud por cada 10,000 habitantes en áreas rurales y de 44.5 en áreas urbanas”.
“Los residentes de medicina interna del Hospital General San Juan de Dios, y mucho personal sanitario del país, están muy agobiados porque no hay equipo de protección. Hemos advertido lo que viene y es como si no te creyeran”, explica Nancy Sandoval, presidenta de la Asociación Guatemalteca de Enfermedades Infecciosas. […]
Guatemala tiene 16 millones de habitantes pero su sistema de salud pública solo cubre a unos 6,5 millones de personas. “Y eso no significa que todos esos 6,5 millones tengan un acceso real a la salud, porque solo contamos con 45 hospitales”, explica Lucrecia Hernández-Mack, exministra de Salud y diputada del Movimiento Semilla, un partido opositor.
El país solo cuenta con 56 respiradores mecánicos en el sistema de salud pública y aproximadamente 50 más en los centros médicos privados.
White House Seeks To Lower Farmworker Pay
April 10, 2020, NPR
The nation's roughly 2.5 million agricultural laborers have been officially declared "essential workers" as the administration seeks to ensure that Americans have food to eat and that U.S. grocery stores remain stocked. Workers on the H-2A seasonal guest-worker program are about 10 percent of all farmworkers.
Meet The Undocumented Coachella Farmworkers Feeding America [From 2017]
April 14, 2017
Farmworkers in California's Coachella Valley often face extreme heat and contact with dangerous pesticides. Now they're also facing the threat of deportation. We went there to see their plight firsthand. Check out this video on immigrants and American jobs:
Cuban Doctors Arrive in Angola to Train 1500 Health Technicians
Telesurtv.net, April 11, 2020
Nickel mine illegally operating in Guatemala, destroying environment and local economy, increasing risk of Covid19
Proyecto minero Fénix del Solway Investment Group sigue operaciones en El Estor
La Corte de Constitucionalidad ordenó la suspensión del proyecto Fénix en junio 2019. En abril 2020, el Gobierno de Guatemala ordenó que, por la Covid19, no pueden circular vehículos pesados. La compañía Solway Investment Group (Suisa) no acató las suspensiones, ni por violar la ley de minería ni por las medidas de contención por el COVID-19 en el país.
Human Rights Watch taking credit for U.S. sanctions on Nicaragua, in times of Covid19; Pushing to escalate U.S. economic war on Venezuela
“Billionaire-backed Human Rights Watch lobbies for lethal US sanctions on leftist governments as Covid crisis rages”
April 8, 2020, By Ben Norton, The Grayzone
Typical appeal for food Rights Action is receiving
FB message (April 20, 2012) from young Maya Achi man, son of a survivor of U.S.-backed genocides in Guatemala (1978-1983). His mother was an eye-witness to and survivor of the Chixoy Dam/Rio Negro massacres that left over 440 Rio Negro villagers dead, killed to make way for the World Bank and IDB’s Chixoy dam hydro-electric dam proiect in Guatemala.
“Buenas noches señor Grahame, espero que se encuentra bien de salud. Lamentablemente vivimos en una situacion con la pandemia covid 19. Con el toque de queda, nos a dejado muchos guatemaltecos sin empleo. Vivimos en una extreña pobresa. No contamos con recursos para enfrentar dicha enfermedad …”
“Estos son mis hijos. Mi madre Bruna esta en Rabinal, yo en Mazatenango. Necesito que me apoyen con viveres - es lo que mas necesito para mis hijos. Gracias por su atención. Att. ...”
A pandemic we pay attention to, on top of pandemics we cause - and don’t pay attention to
John Clarke @JohnOCAP: The crisis of hunger is going to worsen considerably as the lockdown continues and it will overwhelm private charity networks. We must demand effective measures of emergency food distribution.
“Canadian food banks struggle to stay open, just as demand for their services skyrockets”
By Alexandra Harvey, Globe and Mail
Trump cracks down on nations hesitant to accept U.S. deportees because of coronavirus
By John Fritze, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump signed an order late Friday threatening to impose sanctions on countries that attempt to bar the repatriation of U.S. deportees because those people have spent time in the U.S., the world's worst hot spot for coronavirus.
Tolupan Indigenous people in Honduras live in inhumane conditions due to State abandonment and illegal, violent extraction of their natural resources. With COVID-19, their situation has worsened
“Tolupán people in Honduras on brink of dying of hunger: “we will not die of coronavirus but of hunger”
April 7, 2020, Movimiento Amplio por la Dignidad y la Justicia
Open Letter to Condemn Trump Admin’s Drug Charges against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro
Signatories demand the U.S. to lift sanctions so Venezuela can purchase medicines and equipment to fight Covid19.
Leilani Jordan died at 27 from Covid19
Steven Greenhouse @greenhousenyt: Leilani Jordan, a grocery worker, died at age 27 from Covid-19. She said her store provided neither gloves, nor hand sanitizer. She continued working because she wanted to help people. Her mother received Leilani's last paycheck: it was just $20.64.
Gareth Porter @GarethPorter: This is America in 2020 - an America that must now undergo urgent radical political change to ensure that the system of grotesque injustice that took Leilani Jordan's life can ever happen again.
South Korea and Japan curry favour with U.S., enforce illegal sanctions on Iran
Seyed Mohammad Marandi @s_m_marandi: The president of South Korea & the Japanese prime minister impede Iran's efforts to stop COVID19 by blocking billions of dollars of Iranian assets under orders from the Trump regime. Korea sends large quantities of test kits to the US, yet helps weaponize COVID against Iran
CNN @CNN: South Korea will begin sending 600,000 Covid-19 test kits to the US as soon as tomorrow afternoon, an official with South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs tells CNN. https://cnn.it/2ydrsF8
Covid19 and pandemics of exploitation, poverty and hunger
"Hunger and poverty continue to outstrip Covid-19, as the people cannot comply with the quarantine because there was no effective supply plan and, despite the risk involved in going out to protest, the Hondurans are putting more pressure on the government every day."
#FreeThemAll – Ilegally detained forced migrants and refugee claimants
RAICES: 19 children have tested positive for Covid19 - in just ONE detention center. There is absolutely NO social distancing in detention centers. It is simply not possible. It's also the only way to protect against infection. The only solution is to #FreeThemAll.
“At Least 19 Children at a Chicago Shelter for Immigrant Detainees Have Tested Positive for COVID-19”
Cuba leading fight against Covid19 - U.S. continues illegal sanctions regime
teleSUR English: This experimental vaccine has been developed with Cuban technology and scientists amid the U.S. blockade against the Island. The drug is undergoing clinical trials with volunteers suspected of being COVID-19 carriers.
Source: https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Cuba-Is-Developing-a-Vaccine-to-Activate-the-Immune-System-20200414-0011.html?fbclid=IwAR01iksxPpwVzXo2xNK87AW0ntYx4fWn8aTufrV0fVygxqSFKApu_SbkWHw
CODEPINK: Women For Peace: Why, during a pandemic, is corporate media more interested in villainizing Cuba for sending "doctors, not bombs" than urging other countries to do the same? If we are to beat COVID-19, we need #HealthcareNOTWarfare. It's time for the U.S. to finally put an end to sanctions and war, and prioritize the health of Americans and the wellbeing of the world >>> https://bit.ly/Global-Ceasefire
“Cuba Under Media Attack for Sending Doctors, Not Bombs, to Help Covid-19 Victims”
By Belen Fernandez, April 14, 2020, FAIR (Fairness and accuracy in reporting)
https://fair.org/home/cuba-under-media-attack-for-sending-doctors-not-bombs-to-help-covid-19-victims/?fbclid=IwAR0-sIIMAXTlLMwyRiFR1sRpW3vqLXUmcTiqP7f1PDbge5DGGgn0EI7qFoc
Chicago coronavirus outbreak infects dozens of migrant children in U.S. custody
By Camila Montoya-Galvez, April 14, 2020, CBS NEWS
During Covid19, Honduran regime inviting global mining industry to apply for extraction licenses
“En Honduras, el COVID-19 no es obstáculo para que la élite siga entregando el territorio”
14 ABRIL, 2020
En el actual contexto del país marcado por una crisis social y humanitaria generada por los efectos del COVID-19, el 27 de marzo La Secretaría de Recursos Naturales y Ambiente (MIAMBIENTE) hizo público un comunicado haciendo un llamado al capital nacional y extranjero a presentar sus solicitudes de “Licencia Ambiental” para el desarrollo de proyectos extractivos.
Deportations and Covid19 in Guatemala
Jeff Abbott @palabrasdeabajo: The increase in cases of covid-19 in Guatemala can be directly attributed to the continuation of the deportation of Guatemalans from the United States. According to Hugo Monroy, the Guatemalan health minister, they have seen between 50% and 75% of deportees infected
Dulce Rivera @drivera_gtv: Según el ministro de Salud, Hugo Monroy, entre el 50 y 75% de deportados ha dado positivo a covid-19. Solicitaron a EE. UU. enviarlos con un certificado médico.
This Pandemic Will Lead to Social Revolutions
By Andreas Kluth, April 11, 2020
The most misleading cliche about the coronavirus is that it treats us all the same. It doesn’t, neither medically nor economically, socially or psychologically. In particular, Covid-19 exacerbates preexisting conditions of inequality wherever it arrives. Before long, this will cause social turmoil, up to and including uprisings and revolutions.
Recommended daily news:
Democracy Now’s “Coronavirus Report”
www.democracynow.org
Rights Action’s COVID-19 Response Fund, Guatemala and Honduras:
Please share this information widely
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