Bishops in Amazon urge Peru to guard indigenous needs during pandemic

[Judi Lynn]

Apr 23, 2020
by Barbara Fraser, Catholic News Service



Kukama boys watch boats on the Amazon's Maranon River near Dos de Mayo in Peru's Loreto region. As the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic increasingly exposes fault lines between the rich and poor, the eight bishops of Peru's Amazonian region have urged the government to pay particular attention to the needs of indigenous people. (CNS/Barbara Fraser)


LIMA, PERU — As the COVID-19 pandemic increasingly exposes fault lines between the rich and poor, the eight bishops of Peru's Amazonian region have urged the government to pay particular attention to the needs of indigenous people.

"Social inequalities leave the weakest unprotected, making them more vulnerable to COVID-19," the bishops wrote in an April 22 statement. "These deficiencies are exacerbated when they are suffered by the indigenous people of our Amazonia, the population that is most defenseless in the face of this pandemic."

The message came as some 450 Shipibo people from Peru's central Amazonian Ucayali region began walking northward from towns on Peru's southern coast, where they had been doing seasonal farm labor. Their goal is to reach their home communities hundreds of miles away on the other side of the Andes Mountains.

Peru has been on lockdown since March 16, with residents throughout the country allowed out only to buy food or medicine or for medical emergencies.

More:
https://www.ncronline.org/news/people/bishops-amazon-urge-peru-guard-indigenous-needs-during-pandemic