John Otis

As the coronavirus lockdown dries up their already meager incomes, slum dwellers in Soacha, Colombia, are hanging red flags outside their homes to signal their need for a drop-off of food aid.

Since the country's 2016 peace deal, former rebels have joined armed groups operating in narcotics trafficking, extortion and illegal gold mining, according to the Colombian military.

Colombian officials say 12,000 Venezuelans have taken buses back to their home country since Colombia imposed restrictions to stop the coronavirus outbreak. Many other Venezuelans are fleeing on foot.

Venezuela's economy and health care systems collapsed long before coronavirus. Venezuelan refugees in Colombia have run out of cash and are returning home.

Officially, only several hundred Ecuadoreans have died of COVID-19. But in the city of Guayaquil, hospitals, cemeteries and morgues are overwhelmed.

Currulao combines drums and marimbas and is popular along the country's Pacific coast where most of the population is Afro-Colombian. One verse goes: "We no longer have peace in our paradise."

On the Pacific Coast of Colombia, there is a notorious shipping point used for the cocaine trade. But in this gang-ridden, impoverished port, lies a hidden musical treasure.

The epicenter of the country's outbreak is the port city of Guayaquil, where cadavers are lying in the streets and in homes.

Colombia is home to about 1.7 million who fled neighboring Venezuela in recent years. Now that it has shut down to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, the migrants say they are extra vulnerable.

Exchange students brought the coronavirus back to Ecuador — overwhelming hospitals with patients. With funeral parlors working limited lockdown hours, bodies lie in the streets.