Why is Brazil pushing out illegal miners from its Yanomami territory?

The first attack took place on April 29, when between 15 and 20 heavily armed workers opened fire on the residents of a Yanomami village called Uxiu, killing an indigenous health worker. The second attack took place in a different area of ​​the province where four illegal miners were killed in a gun battle after special forces personnel from the environmental protection group Ibama and the Federal Highway Police – two of the government forces responsible for flushing out the illegal miners – raided a cassiterite and gold field. illegal.

“We will continue the process of removing all miners who are still there illegally,” Indigenous Minister Sonia Guajara told the media. She also stated: “We will intensify the process,” and added that the armed forces could be deployed to finish the job.

In January this year, Lula’s government cracked down on illegal mines located across a Yanomami region the size of Portugal with the help of the country’s military, environmental agencies and police forces, who are forcing miners out of the area. So far, according to Guajara, about 80 percent of the more than 20,000 miners who invaded the area have been evacuated. Reuters mentioned.

The Yanomami region, which straddles the states of Roraima and Amazonas in the northwest corner of the Brazilian Amazon, has been the focus of illegal gold miners for decades. They first got there in the 1980s, resulting in the death of 20 percent of the Yanomami community—there are currently 30,000 Yanomami in the area—due to violence, the spread of disease, and damage to the environment. according to CNN According to the report, most of these miners were expelled in 1992, when “the area was demarcated by the government of then President Fernando Collor de Mello”.

However, the Yanomami region experienced a massive rise in the influx of miners during the regime of former President Jair Bolsonaro, causing a humanitarian crisis.

How Bolsonaro Caused Illegal Gold Mining in Yanomami Province

Once Bolsonaro assumed the presidency in 2019, he Signed legislatures which has opened “native protected areas (such as Yanomami territory) to mining, cut funding or dismantled agencies charged with monitoring and enforcing environmental regulations, and has repeatedly claimed that indigenous lands are “too big,” CNN The report said.

For example, in 2019 the Brazilian military had to close two observation bases along the Yanomami region’s two largest rivers, the Mucajaí and Uraricoera, both of which miners use as entry routes. The military said it had to do so because its resources were stretched by the large numbers of refugees coming to Brazil from Venezuela.

These measures encouraged miners to enter the designated area, as gold mining was strictly prohibited. A recent report by the non-governmental Brazilian Social Institute (ISA), based on satellite imagery, shows that mines on Yanomami land have increased from four in 2015 to 1,556 by the end of 2021.

Another report, released in January of this year, by Brazil’s Ministry of Human Rights and Citizenship (MDHC) alleged that the Bolsonaro administration “ignored numerous alerts made about the deteriorating situation of the Yanomami.” CNN He said.

What is the impact of illegal mining in the Yanomami territory?

The spread of illegal mines and the arrival of thousands of miners caused a rise in cases of diseases such as tuberculosis and malaria. In a 2022 study published in BioMed Central’s Malaria journal, researchers wrote that between 2016 and 2020, the number of malaria cases increased by 1,090 percent in indigenous areas and 75,576 percent in mining areas.

Moreover, at least 570 Yanomami children have died of preventable causes since 2018, Brazil’s health ministry said. CNN. Malnutrition was one of the main causes of these deaths. Historically, the Yanomami indigenous people relied on the forests, birds, and animals to feed themselves. But illegal gold mining has destroyed huge swathes of the forest, leaving food scarce.

Another problem is mercury poisoning. Miners in the area “searched for gold by mixing liquid mercury into sediments dug in rivers of the Amazon,” polluting the Yanomami areas traditionally used for hunting, fishing, and gathering, DW mentioned. This also contributed to an increase in malnutrition among children.

How does Lula’s government deal with the situation?

In his inaugural address on January 1, Lola He said his government would have zero tolerance for mining on indigenous reservation lands protected by Brazil’s constitution. He added, “Indigenous peoples… are not obstacles to development – they are the guardians of our rivers and forests and an essential part of our greatness as a nation.”

Days after this speech, he declared a medical emergency for the Yanomami and evacuated hundreds of those who were unwell in the area. Lula also accused Bolsonaro of “genocide” against the Yanomami people and said the court may take action against him.

In February, the president announced an operation to expel the illegal miners in the territory with the help of government authorities, including Brazil’s environmental agency Ibama, the National Indigenous Peoples’ Foundation, and the National Guard. As mentioned before, to date, about 80 percent of the miners have been fired, according to the authorities. More than 300 mining camps were also dismantled, and the troops destroyed 20 aircraft and helicopters.

Experts believe that although Lula’s efforts have greatly curtailed the miners’ infestation, the recovery of the Yanomamis forest and its inhabitants has only just begun. Speaking to an amazon based news platform kapokGuinia Wabichana, the first female head of Brazil’s Indigenous Affairs Agency, said she was confident the operation against the miners would be a turning point and that those responsible for the suffering of the Yanomami River would be punished. “We are in a new era,” she added.