Cut off, Amapá state endures a week without electricity

Located on the Brazilian border with Suriname and French Guiana, the Amazonian state of Amapá has long suffered from precarious infrastructure, a lack of basic sanitation for a large chunk of the population, and general isolation, with 73 percent of the state covered by dense rainforest. Over the past week, that isolation has been felt more than ever, with most of Amapá left without electricity after a power plant caught fire.

The power outage has affected water supplies, telephone lines, and internet connections, among other services. Hospitals have canceled surgeries, the state has stopped tallying its coronavirus cases and deaths, even raising calls for the suspension of Sunday’s municipal elections. Authorities have yet to determine the cause of the blaze, but they suspect it to be the result of lightning storms, which are common in the region.

The federal government has been slow to respond to the crisis, and parts of the state are still without electricity eight days later. The length of the crisis has infuriated politicians from the state — such as Senate President Davi Alcolumbre — and led to dozens of protests by residents of...