非法采矿者可能引发新冠病毒在土著社区中扩散

Five NGOs that work for Indigenous rights in Venezuela issued a statementasking authorities to take immediate action against illegal miners operating in the Venezuelan and Brazilian Amazon, as they are likely to spread covid-19 in the region.

五家致力于维护委内瑞拉原住民权益的非政府组织发表声明，要求当局立即采取行动，打击委内瑞拉和巴西亚马逊地区的非法采矿者，因为他们很可能携带有新冠病毒（COVID-19）并引发COVID-19在该地区蔓延。

Endorsed by the organizations Orpia, Oipus, Kuyunu, Omida and the Socioenvironmental Working Group of the Wataniba Amazon, the release rings the alarm bell following the death of a 15-year-old boy from the Yanomami tribe. The young man succumbed to covid-19 in the Brazilian state of Roraima, which shares a border with the southeastern Venezuelan states of Bolívar and Amazonas. 

该声明得到了Orpia、Oipus、Kuyunu、Omida和Wataniba Amazon社会环境工作组的支持，并在亚诺玛米部落（Yanomami tribe）的一名15岁男孩死亡后，向社会敲响了警钟。这位男孩儿在巴西罗赖马州死于COVID-19，该州与委内瑞拉东南部的玻利瓦尔州和亚马逊州接壤。

According to the news agency Amazonia Real, Brazil’s Special Secretariat for Indigenous Health confirmed that the youth showed covid-19 symptoms for 21 days before he was able to be properly diagnosed and receive any treatment. He died from complications associated with the infection and from having previously suffered from malaria, anaemia and malnutrition. The teenager hailed from the region of the Uraricoera river, an area known for hosting garimpeiro or artisanal mining activities. 

据亚马逊通讯社报道，巴西土著卫生特别秘书处证实，这名男孩儿在被正确诊断并接受任何治疗之前21天就出现了COVID-19感染症状。他死于与病毒感染相关的并发症，之前曾患过疟疾、贫血和营养不良。这名少年来自Uraricoera河地区，该地区以露天矿勘探者群集或手工采矿活动而闻名。

“Similar to thousands of Yanomami, whose traditional territory extends -regardless of boundaries- between Venezuela and Brazil, the youth had a debilitated immune system,” the NGOs’ communiqué reads. “Most Indigenous peoples in our country experience the same reality.”

非政府组织在声明中表示：“亚诺玛米人的传统领土不分国界，一直延伸至委内瑞拉和巴西之间，亚诺玛米人，包括这位年轻人的免疫系统都很脆弱，我们国家的大多数原住民的情况都差不多。”

According to the group, it is widely known that illegal miners have been introducing diseases in Indigenous communities for years. Given their state of destitution and the fact that there is a generalized lack of medical treatments in Venezuela, First Nations are not prepared to deal with the threat of covid-19.

据该组织称，众所周知，非法采矿者多年来一直在土著社区传播疾病。鉴于他们的贫困状况和委内瑞拉普遍缺乏医疗资源的事实，这些原住民还没有做好应对COVID-19的准备。

Ill-prepared for years

多年来一直准备不足

Two years ago, almost 90% of hospitals in Venezuela reported shortages in medications, 79% shortages in surgical supplies and 79% water shortages. This situation has not improved and the numbers are much worse in remote communities.两年前，委内瑞拉近90％的医院报告药物短缺，79%的医院外科用品短缺及有79％的医院存在用水短缺。这种情况一直没有得到改善，而偏远社区的情况更糟。

The issue with water is particularly worrisome, the NGOs’ document states. The mercury used by illegal miners to pan gold from Amazonian rivers is leaving entire towns without access to clean water in a moment when washing hands is the most important individual action to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus.

非政府组织在声明中指出，用水情况尤其令人担忧。非法采矿者从亚马逊河中淘金所使用的汞，使得整个城镇无法获得清洁用水，而用清洁的水洗手正是抑制新型冠状病毒传播的重要方法。

“We issued a report back in 2019 after receiving information from the Yanomami Hutukara Association, which operates in Venezuela’s Amazonas state and Brazil’s Roraima state. They said that their land was being invaded by some 20,000garimpeiros (illegal miners) who were extracting gold from their traditional territories,” the Socioenvironmental Working Group of the Wataniba Amazon said.

Wataniba Amazon社会环境工作组表示：”收到在委内瑞拉亚马逊州和巴西罗赖马州开展业务的胡卡拉亚诺玛米协会的信息后，我们在2019年发布了一份报告。该协会称，他们的土地正在被大约2万名非法采矿者所侵占，这些人正在其传统领地上非法淘金。

In the view of the non-governmental organization, efforts put forward by the Indigenous communities themselves, in terms of demanding its members to isolate, may be futile given the transient nature of illegal miners.

非政府组织认为，鉴于非法采矿者的流动性，土著社区提出的要求非法采矿者进行隔离的措施可能是徒劳的。

“The fact that they are moving back and forth between towns and mineral deposits hinders the isolation demands put forward by First Nations before the authorities,” the communiqué reads. “For decades now, particularly since the boom of artisanal mining that started in the 1980s, Indigenous peoples have been suffering epidemics such as measles, tuberculosis and malaria.” The NGOs fear the same pattern is going to emerge with covid-19.

声明中表示：“非法矿工在城镇和矿藏之间来回流动的事实，使得原住民在当局面前提出的隔离要求难以实施。几十年来，尤其是自上世纪80年代开始的手工采矿热潮以来，土著居民一直在遭受麻疹、结核病和疟疾等流行病的侵害。”非政府组织担心COVID-19也会如出一辙。

“To the vulnerability imposed by mining, we have to add the fact that the Yanomami people are very mobile themselves due to their binational nature. Normally, they move along the three corridors of the Alto Ocamo, the Parima mountain range and the Alto Siapa,” the release states. “This is why we respectfully demand that the Venezuelan authorities take urgent measures to guarantee their health with the implementation of actions that lead to the total and temporary isolation of these communities and the mandatory exit of illegal miners. Only this will prevent a new genocide of the Yanomami people.” 

声明中表示：“除了采矿造成的隐患之外，我们还必须指出，由于亚诺玛米人的跨国性，他们的流动性很强。通常，他们沿着Alto Ocamo，Parima山脉和Alto Siapa这三个通道来回流动。这就是为什么我们要求委内瑞拉当局采取紧急措施，以确保他们的健康，并采取行动，使这些社区暂时性的完全隔离，并强制非法采矿者离开。只有这样才能阻止亚诺玛米人的种族灭绝。”

The likelihood of positive action

采取积极行动的可能性

How likely is the Nicolás Maduro regime to take action on the NGOs’ call is uncertain.面对非政府组织的呼吁，尼古拉斯·马杜罗(Nicolas Maduro)政权采取行动的可能性尚不明确。

For years now, Maduro and others linked to his administration have been benefiting from artisanal mining operations in an area called the Orinoco Mining Arc. They export gold in an effort to bypass economic sanctions imposed by Washington to Venezuelan oil sales.

多年来，马杜罗及其政府官员从Orinoco采矿区的手工采矿业务中受益颇多。他们出口黄金是为了绕开美国对委内瑞拉石油销售所实施的经济制裁。

The lucrative business is supported, according to human rights organization Provea, by criminal groups known as “unions,” who collude with authorities and use violent tactics to take control of entire communities and of their mineral resources.

据人权组织Provea称，这项利润丰厚的业务得到了被称为“unions”的犯罪集团的支持，这些犯罪集团与当局合谋并使用暴力手段控制整个社区及其矿产资源。

The business is so profitable that just back in January the president of the National Assembly, Juan Guaidó, who is recognized by the US, the EU and more than 50 other countries as Venezuela’s legitimate president, urged the European Union to officially label as “blood gold” the precious metal informally mined in the country’s southern jungles.这项业务的收益是如此的丰厚，以至于在1月份，被美国、欧盟和其他50多个国家认定为是委内瑞拉合法总统的国民议会主席胡安·瓜伊多（JuanGuaidó）敦促欧盟正式将在该国南部丛林中非法开采的黄金认定为”血金”。

The request was aimed at increasing pressure on Maduro.

这一请求旨在对马杜罗当局加压。

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