The unknown journey that humanity is facing on account of the Covid-19 pandemic continues unabated. This invisible enemy that has modified the current course of history appeared in Latin America between February and March of 2020 and since then we have seen how the most perverse capitalist model, Neoliberalism, has been gradually laid bare in various forms.

The governments that support it, without the slightest blush at what it implies for the most needy and for the new poor, are now stripped of their masks. They have, in short, dismantled the foundations of Western democracy with the perfect excuse: The Pandemic.

Let us review the actions taken by some governments in these complex months.

Brazil: This nation leads the list of infections and deaths in South America and is second in the world, behind the United States. The government of Jair Bolsonaro is not to blame for the aggressive virus, but for the health crisis and the suffering of millions of people. A denier of the virus, he assured in March that the Covid-19 was only a “little crack”, that “one would have to die of something” and once he contracted the disease, he exposed himself in public without a mask and without distancing himself from supporters and journalists.

In view of the growing number of actions that threaten the survival of Brazilians, five complaints against President Bolsonaro for Genocide and Crimes against Humanity have been filed with the International Criminal Court in the course of two months. One of them was received by the international tribunal based in The Hague on July 27th, filed by the Brazilian Union Network UNISaúde, which integrates more than one million health professionals.

The 60-page complaint states that President Bolsonaro has placed the entire population at risk by “adopting negligent and irresponsible actions, which have had disastrous consequences such as the spread of the virus and the “total strangulation of health services”.

In this nation, those most affected by the urgent lack of state attention are the same historically forgotten: the poorest, the black and the indigenous. According to the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil, APIB, as of August 1, 147 native communities were affected, with 21,500 infected and 616 dead by Covid-19. In this regard, the complaint to the ICC indicates that this dramatic situation constitutes a crime of genocide, according to the concept established by the Rome Statute. According to the legal norm, the crime of genocide “is committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group”.

To understand more clearly how a President can take his country to the abyss in such a short time, it is important to note that, as of this date, there is no Minister of Health in office. Since last May 15, the person in charge of the portfolio is General Eduardo Pazuello, who is performing a task he knows nothing about. The two previous Ministers were dismissed in the space of only two months due to differences with the Head of State over the disease, especially over its treatment and the confinement measures. In this regard, the Head of State opposed, and continues to oppose, any form of social quarantine.

However, that Bolsonaro appointed a military man to his cabinet was not a surprise. In an unprecedented move since the end of the dictatorship in 1985, nine of the 22 ministers are high-ranking military officers. One of the most notable appointments is that of General Walter Braga Neto, who has been head of the civil house since April 6. Among his central tasks is to push forward a controversial bill that proposes to free up economic activities on indigenous lands in the Amazon. While the plan is being implemented, actions such as illegal and uncontrolled mining and intentional fires are destroying life in the world’s primary lungs.

Uruguay: The Law of Urgent Consideration, known as the LUC, a campaign promise by current President Luis Lacalle Pou, was approved on July 8. It consists of almost 500 articles and practically reverses the course of 15 years of progressive governments of the Frente Amplio, in terms of respect for civil rights, state control of education and natural resources, and the free development of social protest.

Although the Pandemic is not the cause of the Law, the moment was propitious because it invested the debates in Congress with a cloak of necessity to “rise to the occasion,” without mobilizations or street demonstrations due to the quarantine. Among the most questioned articles are;

Article 11, which states that anyone who “offends” the police can be detained for 3 to 12 months, without explaining who establishes what is an offense and what acts would qualify as an offense. In the same vein, Article 20 states that police officers may question the accused “autonomously. In other words, they do not need a court order.

Article 37, on Identification and police warning: police personnel are exempt from identifying themselves and warning. That is, first I shoot and then I ask.

Articles 448, 449, and 450 related to “Protection of Free Movement,” establish the Anti-Picketing Law, that is, anti-protests on the roads. This measure gives the police the authority to disperse demonstrations in “pursuit of tranquility and free movement” and to arrest people who have “a criminal appearance. In other words, because of their features.

With regard to strikes, the Law establishes that “all strike measures must be exercised in a peaceful manner, without disturbing public order, and adds that “the Executive Branch may impose restrictions on such measures when they do not meet the conditions established above. What conditions does it refer to? It is not known, therefore the broad interpretation of the Law alerts the workers’ centers to possible scenarios of criminalization of labor protests.

On the model of the country, the “LUC” creates the legal framework to return to pure neo-liberalism: commercialization of education, privatization of oil companies and the countryside. The opposition party Frente Amplio considers that this is an “anti-popular, unconstitutional, repressive and regressive” law.

Chile: In this nation, the year began with a social explosion without precedent since the fall of the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet moresthan 30 years ago, and only the Pandemic demobilized the streets that had been occupied since October 18, 2019.

This forced gathering of millions of Chileans has been taken advantage of against the clock by the government of Sebastian Piñera to conceive decrees and laws that directly impact the great protests of the masses, which, moreover, placed him on the ropes.

The first order of the President of the Republic, since he installed the Constitutional State of Exception due to the Pandemic, was to take the military to the streets and decree a curfew throughout the country.

In addition, as the attention focused on the Pandemic, the purchase of weapons, vehicles and other supplies increased. At the beginning of July, the government opened a bidding process for the purchase of 130 anti-riot shotguns, and in the middle of the same month, a huge water throwing cart arrived in the country, which, according to the Secretary of the Interior, are part of “several that were bought in 2019 in a modernization plan for the Carabineros”.

This police force is responsible for the main complaints of human rights violations during the social explosion, which resulted in several deaths and thousands of wounded, including more than 400 people who lost their eyes from bullets fired directly into their faces. Of these, more than 30 were totally blinded. International organizations like the UN corroborate this and call on Piñera’s government to limit its force.

In this same context of Pandemic, the government of Piñera sent a large military contingent to Araucania, a region with a historic presence of indigenous Mapuche peoples, to join the one that is already present in the area.

The excuse given by the executive is the strange explosion of a communication tower, described by military authorities as an act of terrorism, while the Attorney General’s office makes no further reference to it. Several Chilean analysts point out that this is a set-up to militarize the region under the pretext, again, of the State of Exception. It is worth remembering that the original peoples are non-existent in this country, based on the Constitution itself.

Because of this and the lack of emergency care programs (universal basic income) for the sectors most affected by the economic crisis, indignation is growing and President Piñera’s popularity is plummeting to historic lows. According to the most recent poll by the company Plaza Pública Cadem, the approval of the President Head of State fell to 12 percent.

Peru: in this nation the people are not only worried about the mishandling of the pandemic and the daily pain in the face of death, but also about the growing authoritarianism imposed by an executive power, which we should remember, was not elected at the polls.

At the end of March, once the first cases of Covid-19 appeared in the country, Congress enacted the “Easy Trigger Law”. Although it was passed as part of the state of emergency for the Pandemic, it will remain permanent. It exempts members of the public forces who use their weapons against the civilian population in “the performance of their duties” from any responsibility. Uniformed personnel cannot be detained if they kill or wound a person. In addition, they are free to shoot an unarmed person. The law, which opens the door to police abuse and state impunity, has already led to several complaints. The government maintains its silence.

Bolivia: nine months after the coup d’état against President Evo Morales, the police-military state is as in force as it was in November 2019. The country has extended the state of emergency and, to the same extent, social confinement. Without state support and a collapsed health system, the people decided to go out and protest, risking their lives.

In countless testimonies, one hears “we will die of Covid or we will die of hunger, but we will die of something,” expressing their desperation. The state’s response is repression through arms, as we have seen in several departments.

In the early morning of July 4, military planes flew low over the population of K’ara K’ara in Cochabamba. While by land, a police and military operation was repressing residents of the area, who had been demanding the release of 8 detainees for a week, the right to water, bread, food and work. The majority of this population is sustained by informal work.

In another of the most evident acts of authoritarianism, the de facto government arranged for the promotion of a group of military personnel without going through a review by the Plurinational Legislative Assembly – as indicated in the Constitution – under the cover of the Pandemic. Previously, the military high command went in uniform to Parliament to demand the approval of the promotions, which the Movement Towards Socialism, MAS, (a party with a majority in both chambers) denounced as a clear threat to the legislative power.

However, the examples continue, and the pandemic as an excuse to continue undermining democracy will not stop. The de facto government, which promised to be “transitional”, pressed for the general and presidential elections to be postponed for the third time.

The elections will be held on October 18, and to guarantee that the date is immovable, the Central Obrera and social, campesino, and indigenous organizations measured forces in the streets for a week, and they succeeded. A law stipulates that on that Sunday, the Bolivians registered on the electoral roll will be able to go to the polls to choose the new President and Vice President of the nation.

Polls are one of the reasons that the coup leaders are using the pandemic as an excuse not to call for elections. The MAS (Movement Towards Socialism) formula is in first place in terms of favourability, far from the seven right-wing aspirants, all of whom support the coup d’état.

Ecuador: With the same argument since he became President, Lenin Moreno warned last May that as a result of the “heavy inheritance of Correismo,” the executive should take drastic economic measures.

And so it was, regardless of the vulnerability of the population, the National Assembly approved the so-called “Law of Humanitarian Support”. The law, which came into effect in June, allows for the reduction of the workday by up to 50% and the decrease of salaries by up to 45%. “Free” negotiations between employer and employee authorized massive layoffs, as is currently happening.

As for education, the cut for public universities is US$100 million. More than 30 public universities and technical schools will be affected, as well as scholarship programs for higher studies abroad.

In spite of the health crisis due to the mishandling of the Pandemic, the government paid US 324 million to the IMF, WB, CAF and the IDB, contrary to the demands of economists, the political opposition and social organizations, not to pay the debt now, like other nations have done.

This was money needed to attend the tragedy that the nation has been experiencing, especially Guayaquil, where health authorities had to publicly apologize for the misplacement of 200 bodies of people killed by Covid-19.

All of these events have generated protests in most of the country’s cities. Some have said “quarantine with hunger does not last” and “Prison for the corrupt, work for the people”. Regarding the latter, they refer to the corruption scandal that links former President Abdalá Bucaram and some of his relatives, in the illegal acquisition of medicines and hospital equipment for the care of patients with the virus. The Prosecutor’s Office is accusing them of illegal association in the trade of medicines. The former president and several of those involved are under house arrest.

I close this tour of some Latin American nations by recalling the raison d’être of this article: The pandemic as the perfect excuse to deepen the power of domination over the people, without any shame. An oppressive power, which as we observed, employs various strategies and adopts neo-fascist expressions that are superior to those previously known in order to guarantee control of the system.

What do we do against it? May the wisdom of the social movements find the answers.

(Tatiana Perez is a journalist with Telesur, Venezuela.)