A joint operation by the Federal Police, Ibama, Funai and other federal government agencies located a mining site in Yanomami territory less than 15 kilometers from a community of isolated indigenous peoples, with no contact with society, reported this Saturday (11) the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples.
The community was identified during an overflight over Roraima on Friday, and the images taken “prove that the indigenous people live in the place and would not be far from there, given the conservation of the malocas that shelter them and the food grown in the surroundings”, said the ministry. in a statement.
The overflight also found that new mines had formed in the vicinity of the community, the ministry said, adding that the indigenous people are from the isolated moxihatëtëa people, who have been monitored since 2010 by Funai.
“It is important that the garimpeiros get out of there as soon as possible. Their presence there poses a fatal risk to the isolated people, so those who refuse to leave must be arrested for the operation,” said the Minister of Indigenous Peoples, Sonia Guajajara, according to the ministry’s statement.
On Friday, the Federal Police began an operation to eradicate gold mining in the Yanomami indigenous land, with the main focus on stopping criminal activity, including the destruction of equipment used by gold miners.
Illegal mining is pointed out as the main responsible for the humanitarian and health crisis that affects the Yanomami. The use of mercury in the illegal extraction of gold contaminates the rivers used by the indigenous people for water and food, which has caused illness and malnutrition.
This week, agents from Ibama and Funai carried out inspection operations against mining in Yanomami territory and destroyed equipment used by prospectors.
More than 20,000 miners invaded the indigenous reserve, bringing disease, sexual abuse and armed violence that terrified the Yanomami, estimated to number around 28,000, and led to severe malnutrition and deaths.
The government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) declared a medical emergency on Yanomami land and said it will have zero tolerance for mining on indigenous lands, protected by the Constitution.
The Yanomami have long lived in a vast reserve the size of Portugal, on the border with Venezuela. Its mineral-rich lands have attracted illegal prospectors for decades, especially after the military dictatorship government built a road through the Amazon rainforest in the 1970s.
Lula’s predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro (PL), has championed mining on protected indigenous lands, and his government has turned a blind eye to a further rise in reservation invasions by illegal miners and loggers, as well as reducing funding for enforcement of environmental crimes.
Source: CNN Brasil
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