Vulnerability and Conspiracy Theories: Latin America in the Time of Covid-19

Due to the high health stakes and uncertainty surrounding Covid-19, its effects and remedies, the pandemic became a dangerous breeding ground for individuals and networks spreading misinformation, disinformation, and conspiracy theories. Even those Latin American states that reacted promptly at the beginning of the pandemic could not halt the rise in mortality due to structural constraints such as the deficiency of their medical systems, poverty, overcrowding, and the need of many people to participate daily in the informal sector of economy to make a living. Notwithstanding the evident human toll and incremental loss of life, resistance to expert advice and mandatory vaccination has remained high, spread by major "disinformants." These are individuals and organizations that contest sound medical advice, sometimes claiming that the world is dealing with a "plandemic," that is, a plot concocted by powerful elite circles to install widespread fear and, through vaccination, implant digital chips in people, dominating their human will and thus creating a "New World Order.".