SANTIAGO/MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – In the typically bustling streets of the downtown Santiago today, Chilean great-grandmother Luz Maria Rios was neglecting a coronavirus quarantine and risking her health to offer Easter eggs.
SUBMIT PHOTO: A stall with security components is seen in the street market, during a preventive quarantine after the break out of the coronavirus illness (COVID-19), in Santiago, Chile April 8,2020 REUTERS/Pablo Sanhueza
For hours, she saw no clients. “I’ll offer what God wants,” the 76- year-old said with a shrug, gazing down the nearly empty pavement.
It is a scene duplicated throughout Latin America where street suppliers defy extensive quarantines to attempt to eke out a living in practically empty cityscapes.
The pandemic, which has actually tallied more than 1.5 million infections internationally and more than 89,000 deaths, is entering its second month wrecking Latin America, declaring more than 1,300 lives in Brazil, Mexico, Peru and Chile alone.
More than half of those utilized in Latin America work informally, according to the International Labour Organisation.
Now, with their consumer base unexpectedly shrunk, the returns for casual sellers are diminishing too. They have couple of or none of the safeguard that those operating in the official sector can draw on.
Among them is Matias Maximo, 24, who has s