The Covid-19 pandemic is creating massive upheaval in Bolivia and Peru, with governments responding with a wide array of policies and programs, using the security forces for quarantine enforcement. They have closed their borders and imposed strict lockdowns to slow the spread of the virus, while designing mass assistance programs, including food baskets and direct cash transfers, in an uphill battle to keep gains in poverty reduction from being erased. The International Monetary Fund forecasts that Bolivia’s economy will shrink by 2.9 percent in 2020, while Peru will contract by 4.5 percent.

Peru recorded 51,189 cases of coronavirus, with 1,444 deaths, as of May 5, while Bolivia registered 1,802 cases and 86 fatalities on the same date. Peru’s government estimates that its coronavirus response will cost approximately $26 billion, equivalent to 12 percent of its gross domestic product. Bolivia has not released a national figure, but it has developed a state-wide response strategy funded in part by a $320 million loan from the International Monetary Fund.