let's begin in brazil it now has the
third highest number of confirmed
coronavirus infections there are over
260 000 registered cases
only the us and russia have more that's
not the whole story
experts are saying the true number could
be almost 15
times higher however we should say the
number of fatalities in brazil
is lower than several european countries
now this shows the trajectory of the
daily total of recorded deaths
unlike in those european countries with
high death tolls
the daily rate of fatalities hasn't
started to significantly decrease
in brazil here's the analysis of the
bbc's camila motor
in sao paulo in a country with
continental proportions like brazil
huge inequality the disease manifests in
different ways
in sao paulo for example mortality and
infection rates are higher in the
outskirts of the city in poor
neighborhoods
in those areas people say it's hard to
comply with social distancing measures
because they need to work and there is
no way for them to do home office
in the richest city in the country
around 35 percent of the labor force is
in the informal economy
cases are multiplying all over the place
in the state of amazonas
where the healthcare system has already
collapsed we're now seeing the disease
hitting indigenous communities
some of them located in remote areas in
the meantime president xi bolsonaro
keeps clashing with state governors
because he's against quarantine measures
and keeps repeating that the economy
can't stop
a couple of weeks ago when asked about
the surging number of cases by
journalists
he replied merely so what what do you
want me to do
bolsonaro's rhetoric resonates with part
of the population a small
but loud group that despite the current
situation
organizes demonstrations against social
distancy measures
and it's very vocal on social media
well from camilla in brazil next we turn
to chile because we've also seen their
opposition to the lockdown that's in
place we're going to hear from the
capital
santiago now chile has had more than
46 000 cases of covered 19 so far with
close to 500 deaths
and a recent surge in cases prompted a
strict lockdown
in the capital over the weekend and that
led
to what you can see here this was just
outside the city
protesters who were particularly
objecting to food shortages
clashed with police who were using tear
gas and water cannon
here are some of the protesters
a taxi driver i can't make a living
because which passengers can i pick up
and what does the government give us
help
food it's not quarantine we want we need
help and food
it's food that people are asking for
right now
well after those protests the president
promised to get food to those
who need it and this tweet is from the
mayor of santiago
it says that the government is now
planning to deliver two and a half
million boxes of food the tweet
emphasizes that this
is an unprecedented effort and it goes
on to say food will reach those who need
it in the coming week
please stay home now chile is not the
only place where people are struggling
with food shortages
let's also look at the situation in
mexico drug cartels have exploited the
absence of a coordinated state response
and they've started delivering food and
essential goods
themselves this is a report on the
mexican news website
cinemago it contains a video put out by
the cartel
advertising what the cartel is calling
its food brigade
well bbc monitoring's luis fajardo has
been looking at this issue
for us mexican drug cartels have
traditionally operated through
intimidation
but now they want to appear as allies of
the people allies of these communities
who are suffering a great deal on
economic terms
because of the pandemic and they don't
expect a lot from their government
one of the ways this is working out is
through so-called food brigades
these fairly elaborate logistics
operations that are being set up by the
cartels
to feed entire communities in isolated
or impoverished areas of the country
for example the jalisco new generation
cartel which is one of the biggest
drug trafficking structures in mexico
has been spotted
in veracruz state feeding more than 400
people in one of these occasions
now this is not the only group nor is it
the first time that they employ these
tactics
even in the 1980s in colombia with the
medellin cartel
paolo escobar was involved with this
type of operation but what has changed
now
is the social media sophistication of
their efforts
to distribute across the population this
message that they are allies of the
community
these videos are appearing in social
media even some of them apparently with
drone shots
showing the invoice of the cartel
distributing this food and other
types of aid in these communities also
they're engaging in branding
the sinaloa cartel has been reportedly
distributing food packages with the
picture of el chapo guzman the famous
the infamous drug trafficker who's now
in jail
in in the us and other organizations
other drug organizations are involved in
this
type of struggle to capture the hearts
and minds of the mexican people
in the continued fight between drug
cartels and
the government which clearly continues
throughout this time of pandemic