Ecuador in Crisis

My cousin took this picture to show how some dead bodies have been handled in Guayaquil. Some bodies get proper burials while others are buried in whatever random spaces are available. When government aid doesn’t arrive on time, some bodies are thrown into the ocean because the family members have no idea what to do with the body. The casket in the foreground is the body of a dear family member.

The part of COVID-19 that struck me the most is how it changed the lives of everyone around the world, including my family members back home in Ecuador. How my home country has been handling this epidemic is questionable and looked down upon since they don’t take accountability for their irresponsibility and lack of aid. The part of Ecuador that has been the most impacted has been Guayaquil, which is located in the southern side of Ecuador. Many people who live in Guayaquil live in clustered homes, so if the virus reaches a family member, everyone in that household is most likely going to be impacted by the virus. The issue in Ecuador is that many people have been dropping dead in the streets or dying in their own homes. Since the government doesn’t offer any aid or the aid is delayed, family members and neighbors have no idea what to do with the dead bodies. Some people have been forced to place the body outside of their homes until aid arrives, which usually takes up to 4-5 days or it never arrives. My cousin, Armando Calva, lives in Guayaquil and was in quarantine for a while but has recently gone back to work. He drives a truck during the day and works for Uber at night. He was nice enough to give me more info on what’s going on and informed me that the Ecuadorian government is allowing businesses to reopen despite how impactful COVID-19 still is within the country. The government is willing to go through more casualties as long as the economy is up and running. This honestly breaks my heart because I have so much love for the country and there are so many old people that live in Ecuador who will continue to feel the impact of the virus. I’m afraid what the end results may end up looking like, and I wouldn’t want the U.S. to undergo the same fate.