COVID-19 – Peru
The first coronavirus patient in Peru was detected on March 6. By May 9, 61,847 cases and 1,714 deaths had been reported. Only one person per household is allowed to leave to make nearby purchases, and others must carry a transit pass (essential workers, journalists, etc.). The quarantine...
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The first coronavirus patient in Peru was detected on March 6. By May 9, 61,847 cases and 1,714 deaths had been reported. Only one person per household is allowed to leave to make local purchases, and others must carry a transit pass (essential workers, journalists, etc.). The quarantine was extended until May 24, but people are still going out because they have to work. "The situation is out of control; the health lines are overwhelmed. All the markets are hotspots for infection," says lesbian-feminist activist Vero Ferrari.
A 380-sol bonus was established for people living in poverty or extreme poverty, which should cover three million Peruvians. "But these bonuses aren't arriving. The state's mechanisms aren't working properly," Ferrari added.
Domestic violence
In these circumstances, a large number of communities have been affected. On March 22, the first femicide during quarantine was recorded. Line 100, responsible for receiving reports of gender-based violence, has received 2,500 calls so far; 207 cases have already been reported, and in 38 cases, the victim has been taken to a shelter. 600 of these calls are from children and adolescents reporting that they or their siblings are being beaten .
Migrants and trans people in Peru
Another at-risk population is the nearly one million Venezuelans (862,000 in 2019) who arrived in Peru due to the crisis in their country. The Peruvian government decided not to grant them any government assistance, even though most worked in the service sector or in the informal economy, leaving them in a precarious situation: starve or break the law.
The trans community has been organizing to confront the crisis through donations, monitoring of trans social organizations, and municipal policies. director of Féminas , indicates that they have provided support to 181 trans women in Callao, East Lima, North Lima, and South Lima, thanks to donations collected in the first days after the quarantine was announced. They have also managed to support 120 women in downtown Lima thanks to the Lima Municipality's Women's Office.
Huerta points out that strong bonds of solidarity have been generated among trans women in these times of crisis; some even cook for their own homes and for the homes of other women, so that they do not go hungry while they cannot go out.
Taki Robles, from the trans association Amigas por Siempre (Friends Forever ) in Callao, explains that they are facing the crisis with two measures: distributing donated food supplies and providing meals through a community kitchen. “This pandemic affects us because we live day to day, and this measure caught the vast majority of us with empty pockets, which makes us extremely vulnerable and marginalized. Confining the women to their homes only means watching them languish without social assistance, especially since many haven't qualified for the 380 soles bonus,” she emphasized.
People living with HIV
project coordinator for the organization Jóvenes cambiando VIHdas ), pointed out that people with HIV were indeed receiving the corresponding medication and, due to the health emergency, the Ministry of Health had arranged for them to receive it for a minimum of three months, so that they would not be exposed by leaving home every month.
So far, only in the city of Huancayo, has one person with HIV complained of not receiving their medication for a week due to shortages, and that when they went to request it, the healthcare staff mistreated them. After the complaint became public, they received all their medication yesterday.
No complaints but on alert
So far, no complaints of discrimination or violence against LGBTQ+ people by the police or the Armed Forces have been registered. But we know that this is common even in calmer times; the exercise of LGBTQ+ citizenship in Peru is diminished, and the community suffers constant violence.
In this sense, if LGBTQ+ children and adolescents were already at risk without a pandemic, they may be suffering even more now that they are confined to their homes. LGBTQ+ and feminist organizations are attentive to these situations and have demanded that the Peruvian government take them into account in any measures to mitigate the health crisis.
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