Quito (AFP)

The indigenous Siekopai people of Ecuador joined the call for help of other ethnic groups in the Amazon on Monday against the new coronavirus, denouncing a lack of medical attention for a population "in danger of extinction", in a Latin American region particularly affected by the pandemic.

"We cannot be excluded from any medical attention," denounced Justino Piaguaje, president of this indigenous people, which now numbered only about 740 people, saying that 14 had tested positive after the death of two elderly chiefs showing symptoms of virus.

The siekopai (sequoia) territory covers approximately 25,000 hectares in Ecuador, in the Amazonian province of Sucumbios (northeast, border of Colombia and Peru).

"It is a cross-border population (...) With a low demographic density, it is in danger of extinction" because of oil exploitation and oil palm plantations, added Luke Weiss, vice-president of the 'one of the communities living on the Ecuadorian side, during a joint virtual press conference.

This same ethnic group has some 900 members in the Peruvian province of Loreto, neighboring Sucumbios, according to these same representatives.

According to Justino Piaguaje, the Siekopais have "never received adequate attention" from the Ecuadorian government since the pandemic was detected.

Ecuador is one of the Latin American countries most affected by Covid-19, with nearly 32,000 cases, including at least 1,569 deaths since February 29, in addition to 1,336 deaths probably due to the new coronavirus, but no having been confirmed due to lack of tests

The indigenous chief added that medical personnel had not been sent to the Siekopese communities until March, when the natives were already showing symptoms of the disease.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) launched on Twitter on Monday an "urgent appeal to the State of Ecuador to adopt effective measures to protect the right to health and preserve the integrity of the Siekopai people, as of others at risk in the face of the pandemic. "

At the end of April, several indigenous chiefs of Amazonia launched an appeal for international humanitarian aid in order to prevent "an ethnocide in the entire Amazon basin", by denouncing the abandonment of which their peoples are victims.

"There are no doctors in our communities, there is no prevention equipment in the face of this pandemic (...) There is no support for food," said José in particular. Gregorio Diaz Mirabal, of the Coordination of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin (Coica), which bring together ethnic groups from the nine countries of this region.

He also denounced the fact that illegal miners and loggers took advantage of the confinement to act with "impunity" and expose the communities to contagion.

© 2020 AFP