Abstract

This research investigates whether Indigenous Populations are disproportionately vulnerable to COVID-19 infection and deaths in Chile. To answer this question, we use a regression model to analyze data from the Chilean government. Our analysis indicates that municipalities with a higher proportion of Indigenous people evinced higher rates of infection and deaths to COVID-19. Indigenous groups were not only highly affected at the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak; their rate of infection and mortality has increased as the virus has spread to the general population. We argue that the COVID-19 pandemic can have devastating effects on Indigenous communities, mainly because it increases the historically accumulated inequalities and structural racism linked to colonization, neoliberalism, and neo-extractivism in Chile.