Army parachutes 100 tons of food to Yanomamis

The Army has been dropping supplies, drinking water and fuel by parachute to serve the Yanomami indigenous people, in Roraima, in an action similar to the humanitarian aid that the United States and its allies are providing in the war in the Gaza Strip. Approximately 1,700 launches have been carried out since January 17th. The difference in relation to the war in the Middle East is that in Brazil it is the military and not the indigenous people who recover the cargo dropped from planes in a specific area and then distribute them to around 350 villages.

In the Gaza Strip, the United States last week joined an international effort, led mainly by Jordan, to drop food by parachute to the civilian population. Because of Hamas’ war on terrorism, the amount of humanitarian aid entering the territory by road is insufficient. According to the World Health Organization, there are many cases of malnutrition and there could be widespread famine in northern Gaza if the situation is not reversed.

In Roraima, the Army and Air Force conduct a similar operation. Since January 17, Operation Catrimani has been trying to fulfill its mission of delivering 15,000 basic food baskets to members of the Yanomami ethnic group who, according to the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), are suffering from malnutrition. The area is inhabited by around 27 thousand indigenous people (not just Yanomami). As of March 6, 11,200 baskets had been delivered.

“This is the largest cargo launching operation ever carried out in Latin America. It is even bigger than the cargo launching operations that were carried out in the Second World War”, said General André Luís Novaes Miranda, commander of the Army’s Land Operations Command .

Loads do not reach indigenous people because launches are in an area isolated by the military

This Friday, in the Gaza Strip, the humanitarian operation conducted by the United States and Jordan was criticized, as it resulted in the deaths of five people. The parachute of one of the food boxes dropped from a plane failed to open and the load hit civilians on the ground.

In the region of the conflict in Gaza, there are no military forces controlling the landing of the cargo, the bales of food land practically uncontrolled in areas full of people waiting for the food.

In Roraima, what forced the Armed Forces to use parachutes is the jungle geography of the region where the indigenous people are located. Local airstrips only allow the traffic of small planes that carry few passengers and have minimal cargo-carrying capacity. The landing strip is only 400 meters long.

Therefore, C-105 Amazonas planes, with greater cargo capacity, are dropping food by parachute into an area of ​​the Surucucu Special Border Platoon base (330 kilometers from Boa Vista). As the area is isolated before launches, the risk of accidents with indigenous people and riverside residents is much lower.

The military then collects the loads and loads them onto military helicopters that are capable of landing in jungle clearings in isolated villages. However, this operation is extremely dangerous, but for the military. On Wednesday, a Pantera HM-1A helicopter was disabled in an accident. The crew only had bruises.

In total, seven Armed Forces helicopters are participating in the operation and have already completed around 360 hours of flight.

Distribution of basic food baskets should become Funai’s responsibility

One of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s first political acts upon coming to power in January 2023 was to highlight a serious malnutrition crisis in the Yanomami Indigenous Land, in Roraima.

At the time, Lula attributed the acute situation to the policies of former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL). It would be the fault of illegal miners, who would have polluted the indigenous rivers, without Bolsonaro taking action. However, more members of this ethnic group died during the Lula government in 2023 than during the Bolsonaro administration in 2022. According to data from the Ministry of Health, there were 363 deaths in 2023 compared to 343 in 2022.

A survey of the People’s Gazette showed that the unfavorable health data of the Yanomami is not a particularity of either the Bolsonaro or Lula governments. The problem of malnutrition has been recurring since at least the 2000s.

One of Lula’s first measures was to appeal to the Ministry of Defense to start distributing basic food baskets, in an operation that took place between January 23 and June 5, 2023, Operation Yanomami.

Although malnutrition was remedied, the government was unable to develop lasting policies to support indigenous people. At the end of 2023, Funai inspectors staged a strike and allowed people to go into the field to expel illegal miners and provide assistance to the Yanomami.

In January of this year, the Minister of Indigenous Peoples, Sônia Guajajara, acknowledged that the Lula government had failed to resolve the Yanomami crisis. The solution found by the Executive was to once again turn to the Armed Forces to solve the problem and the largest supply launch operation in Latin America was launched by the Ministry of Defense.

Between 2023 and 2024, approximately 707 tons of supplies were taken by the military to the Yanomami Indigenous Land. There were 29 thousand basic food baskets, drinking water and fuel, according to the Army.

Furthermore, the military is building two Special Border Detachments in the region to provide operational conditions for civilian agencies to operate in the region, which is inhospitable.

The idea is that Funai will try to take on the task of providing the necessary food to the Yanomami from April onwards, hiring helicopters from the private sector to carry out the transport. There have been private aircraft operating in the region for years, but to rescue sick indigenous people and take them to hospitals in the city, but they do not carry supplies.

The military, in turn, must remain in the region, but offering support to civil bodies to monitor illegal miners and loggers.