California radio station tackles coronavirus misinformation among indigenous farm workers

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“Greetings to all who listen to Radio Indígena 94.1 FM,” said a voice from the speakers of the radio in Spanish. Moments later, he heard another voice speaking in Mixteco – one of the many indigenous languages ​​of southern Mexico.

“I was ashamed to speak Mixteco,” said Cervantes Alvarado, 40, whose mother tongue is Mixteco, in Spanish. “Every time I listen to (the radio) I feel proud of who I am and I don’t want my kids to forget about it.”

When the Covid-19 pandemic first hit the United States, Radio Indígena hosts were among the first to be able to explain Covid-19 to indigenous Mexican farm workers in Ventura County, thanks to their ability to switch between Spanish, Mixteco and other indigenous languages. . Over the months, they began to debunk the misinformation about coronaviruses.
The Mixteco / Indigena Community Organization Project (MICOP), a group that runs the radio station and helps indigenous families in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, estimates that approximately 20,000 people from southern Mexico live in the area. . Most of them are agricultural workers and some only speak their native language.
A national survey conducted in 2015-2016 by the US Department of Labor indicates that 77% of agricultural workers speak Spanish more fluently, 21% English and 1% prefer an indigenous language. The workers interviewed were fluent in at least 10 different Indigenous languages.

Radio Indígena was established in 2014 as a branch of MICOP to provide information on labor rights and health programs to indigenous Mexican farm workers in their native languages. It started broadcasting online shows and expanded to FM radio, iOS and Android apps, and a hotline.

Currently, the station broadcasts 40 hours of original programming in Spanish and the indigenous languages ​​of Mixteco, Zapoteco and Purépecha. They focus on a variety of topics, including immigrant rights, domestic violence prevention and Indigenous history. Geneviève Flores-Haro, associate director of MICOP, estimates that around 3,000 people listen to the station daily.

Radio Indígena producer and host Bernardino Almazán says it is complicated to explain certain medical terms in Mixteco because it is an ancient language.

Bernardino Almazán, a grower who once worked picking cilantro, said one of the biggest challenges in the first few months of the pandemic was to explain what Covid-19 was. The Mixteco language, he says, dates back at least 2,000 years and does not include modern medical terminology.

“We had to find other ways to talk about the virus, to give examples of similar illnesses, to explain the symptoms,” Almazán said.

Since then, the station has produced a series of Covid-19 public service announcements on health protocols, school closings, pricing and mental health.

Almazán and his colleagues found themselves debunking false information and rumors about the cost of Covid-19 testing and the contents of a vaccine against the developing coronavirus.
For example, they had to clarify that undocumented immigrants who see a doctor due to Covid-19 would not be affected by the “public charges” rule, a federal provision that makes it more difficult for immigrants to obtain status legal if they use public benefits like food stamps and housing vouchers.
Another conspiracy theory discussed by the hosts is whether Microsoft founder Bill Gates wanted to use a potential coronavirus vaccine to implant tracking devices in people. Gates addressed the rumors last July during a town hall on CNN’s global coronavirus.

“We recommend that they do not pay attention to gossip circulating on social networks or to people who do not have precise information,” said in Spanish Francisco Didier Ulloa, the station coordinator and co-host of Almazán . “Our duty is to report responsibly.”

Arcenio López, executive director of MICOP, said Radio Indígena has played a crucial role in informing indigenous communities in Ventura County about Covid-19.

In addition to running the radio station, MICOP connects to the community, largely through door-to-door interactions. This works better than handing out brochures, as many of the people who work on California farms come from rural communities in Mexico with widespread Spanish illiteracy.

At a Covid-19 testing location, López says, a woman could not read her results because the document was only in English and Spanish. She had tested positive for the virus, he said. The group has since created videos in multiple languages ​​showing how to make a face mask, wash your hands properly and get tested for Covid-19.

“It would be ideal for everyone to learn English, but the reality is that there are people who would never learn English and there are people who have just arrived in this country,” said López. “Everyone deserves to have vital information in their mother tongue, it is a basic human right.”

Farm workers at increased risk of Covid-19, advocates say

Many Radio Indígena listeners are Latinos and farm workers, two groups that have been disproportionately affected by the coronavirus outbreaks in several states.

The number of Covid-19 cases in black and Hispanic children and at all ages is higher than in other groups. Black and Hispanic people infected with the virus also died at disproportionately higher rates over the summer.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said agricultural workers face a particular risk of infection from being in close contact with each other in fields, in shared housing or on transportation, and by due to limited access to drinking water for hygiene.

It is considered a & # 39; essential & # 39; worker. What he feels, however, is underpaid and in danger.
In California, Governor Gavin Newsom issued an executive order in April that provides two weeks of paid sick leave for farm workers or food workers subject to a quarantine or isolation order or medical directive. Newsom has also allocated $ 100 million to subsidize childcare costs for essential workers.
In Ventura County, the state’s central coast county with approximately 850,000 residents, Latinos make up nearly 45% of the population. As of November 25, 18,394 people were infected with Covid-19 and nearly 54% were Latinos, according to data from county health officials. It is not known how many people are of indigenous Mexican descent.

There were 496 farm workers who tested positive for the virus, the county said.

Earlier this year, the county agricultural commission distributed around 1 million face masks at farm sites after a housing facility for farm workers in Oxnard saw a large outbreak of Covid-19, the affiliate reported by CNN KEYT.

López, executive director of MICOP, said farm workers suffered a dramatic job loss during the pandemic. Those who are employed find it difficult to access hand washing facilities and have to work near large numbers of people. Many of those who have jobs, he says, feel like they have no choice.

Some were sleeping in cars to avoid exposing their families, López says, and others would be afraid to tell their employers they were sick with Covid-19 because they didn’t want to lose their jobs.

“If you talk to a farm worker, many will tell you that they are just grateful to have a job because they live from paycheck to paycheck,” López said.

In the past two weeks, advocacy groups have called for a committee to develop guidelines for prioritizing and assigning a Covid-19 vaccine to prioritize farm workers.

“Farm workers must be given priority and also have access to factual and scientific information about vaccines in the indigenous languages ​​and dialects they speak,” said Diana Tellefson Torres, executive director of the United Farm Workers Foundation, in a statement.

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