Our right to exist": from state necropolitics to indigenous peoples' strategies for coping with the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The pandemic exacerbated the inequality, vulnerability and precariousness of indigenous Health. The objective of this article is to analyze the actions taken by the indigenous peoples - Guarani, Kaiowá and Terena - in Mato Grosso do Sul to fight the COVID-19. To this end, a survey of reports in online information vehicles was carried out. The collection was carried out with the descriptors indigenous Coronavirus, indigenous COVID-19, Guarani Kaiowá Coronavirus, and Village Coronavirus, in the period from February 1 to September 30, 2020, and selected 159 news reports. The categorization was carried out through content analysis, with the creation of two thematic axes: Axis 1: Actions and strategies to confront COVID-19 and who carries them out. Axis 2: Problems and difficulties encountered and where they are located. It can be seen that the lack of an effective plan of action and combat against the spread of COVID-19 on indigenous lands by the federal government has generated an overload of actions by states and municipalities, leaving people exposed, vulnerable, and without protection. Faced with the death policy intentionally adopted by the federal government and the suicidal character of the state, indigenous peoples in Mato Grosso do Sul carried out multiple autonomous strategies, such as the concrete actions to confront the spread of COVID-19 in their territories with the temporary closure of indigenous lands by means of health barriers.