With Latin America's stark class disparities, coronavirus hits rich and poor unequally

[Judi Lynn]

"We’re talking about class disparities that are unlike anywhere else on the planet,” says an expert on the region.

March 30, 2020, 2:38 PM CDT
By Associated Press

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — From Mexico City to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and Santiago, Chile, the coronavirus is taking root in the world’s most unequal region, where many of Latin America’s first cases arrived with members of the elite returning from vacations or work trips to Europe and the United States.

Many of the wealthy are already recovering, but experts warn that the virus could kill scores of the poorest people, who must work every day to feed their families, live in unsanitary conditions and lack proper medical care. Some countries are making payments to informal workers — maids, street sellers and others who have been told to stay home to reduce the spread of the virus, but the effort is patchwork and doesn’t apply to everyone who needs help.

“I stay home, I will lose all my goods. I have no way to save them,” said Marie-Ange Bouzi, who sells tomatoes and onions on the street of Haiti’s capital. “I am not going to spend money fighting corona. God is going to protect me.”

Haiti, the Western Hemisphere’s poorest country, reported its first two cases of the virus on March 20. One was imported by one of its most successful artists, an R&B singer who had just returned from France, according to the director of health in Port-au-Prince.

More:
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/latin-america-s-stark-class-disparities-coronavirus-hits-rich-poor-n1172256

[Turbineguy]

1. Like this?

"The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread."

[Judi Lynn]

2. We are not worthy.....