Isolated from the rest of Colombia and glued to the Brazilian city of Tabatinga (AM), Leticia, embedded in the Amazon jungle, is experiencing the worst health crisis in its history. And for many there, the blame for the disaster falls on the Jair Bolsonaro government.
"I don't mean it in a crude way, but it seems that President Bolsonaro did not give the importance that the epidemic demanded," Leticia's mayor, Jorge Luis Mendoza, told Folha in a telephone interview.
With a dry border, Leticia and Tabatinga functioned as one - they even shared the same main avenue. Until, on March 17, the Colombian government closed the country's borders.
With only 0.1% of Colombia's population, Leticia, a city of 49 thousand inhabitants, concentrates 7% of the country's 705 deaths from coronavirus. It is by far the highest death rate in the country, with 50 million inhabitants.
For the mayor, the result is that Leticia is being left out of the gradual reopening of several Colombian cities from the first week of June.
Questioned by the report about what he would like to say to Bolsonaro, the mayor of Leticia stated: "Hopefully, he will prioritize people's lives. Measures must be taken against the spread of the disease. With healthy people, it is much easier to reactivate a battered economy."
Translated by Kiratiana Freelon