500 years after initial extermination, native Colombians facing latest foreign virus threat

by Adriaan Alsema March 27, 2020



Wayuu representative Martha Peralta (Image: Twitter)

Native Colombians on Thursday raised the alarm over the first reports of the coronavirus, and a lack of water and access to healthcare.

National indigenous organization ONIC said Thursday that the first cases were confirmed in the Yukpa community on the Venezuelan border.

Viruses coming from abroad are a particularly sensitive issue for the native Colombians considering the fact that diseases brought to the Americas by Europeans all but exterminated the indigenous within decades.

Five hundred years later, the situation hasn’t improved much as many indigenous communities who have been pushed back into the peripheries of Colombia are unable to protect themselves.

More:
https://colombiareports.com/500-years-after-virtual-extermination-native-colombians-facing-latest-foreign-virus-threat/