Story
October 21, 2021
The Amazon in the Shadow of the Pandemic: My condadito, My family is There (Spanish)
Country:
Mining has gained ground in the Venezuelan Amazon. Communities near mining areas are suffering from...
This story excerpt was translated from Spanish. To read the original story in full, visit El Diario. You may also view the original story on the Rainforest Journalism Fund website here. Our website is available in English, Spanish, bahasa Indonesia, French, and Portuguese.
The Amazon in the Shadow of the Pandemic is a four-episode podcast report that explains the environmental risks of illegal mining and brings together stories of people affected by diseases that are still present in times of the coronavirus.
Mariannys Pérez is an indigenous woman of the Uwottüjja people, who saw death face to face when she suffered from malaria. This disease, which is still present during the pandemic, is more frequently transmitted in the context of mining extraction, where this woman has her little town.
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It was not only malaria that affected Mariannys' health, she also suffered from skin and stomach diseases. These pathologies made her reflect on the risks to which she was exposed, but the need to improve her economic situation forced her to return to the foothills of Yapacana National Park.
