Territories Under Siege: Risks of the Decimation of Indigenous and Quilombolas Peoples in the Context of COVID-19 in South Brazil

Abstract

The current health, political, and environmental crisis ongoing in Brazil and the advances of the impacts of COVID-19 in traditional populations (as indigenous and quilombolas) are not yet prioritized in the scientific production about the novel coronavirus. We performed spatial correlation analysis to map the clusters and outliers of COVID-19 in South of Brazil to identify indigenous and quilombolas communities impacted right now in the pandemic. We show that communities located nearby metropolitan areas and mid-sized cities are the most impacted by the COVID-19 and the advance of the transmission to inner states may intensify the ongoing historical process of elimination of indigenous and quilombolas people. We call for a global response to the indigenous and quilombolas situation in Brazil, pointing to the need of more analysis in the country;