Government actions in Yanomami land are insufficient

The actions of the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) in assisting the indigenous people of the Yanomami Indigenous Land are not being enough to prevent the action of miners in the area and improve the health of the indigenous people. The information is contained in the report entitled “Yamakɨ nɨ ohotaɨ xoa! – We are still suffering: an assessment of the first months of the emergency”, prepared by three associations of the Yanomami people.

The 43-page document was released this Wednesday (2) and highlights that the “lack of coordination of government actions in the Yanomami territory” is one of the main factors that explain many of the problems, such as that of communities that are still underserved. centers and gold miners who insist on not leaving the territory.

According to the report, mining remains active in areas not identified in the monitoring and the authorities need to change the strategy, in addition to listening more to the organizations and professionals that already work in the region.

According to the document, the invasion persists and takes place, even on a smaller scale, by means of rafts on the Catrimani and Apiaú rivers. And he also mentions that in this area, the recent entry of new backhoe loaders was also observed. According to the text, the indigenous people have a special concern because it is in this region that a group in voluntary isolation, known as Moxihatëtëma, lives.

The document also warns of the increase in diseases and, consequently, the number of deaths, conflict between communities, the co-option of young people into organized crime, the weakening of subsistence family farming, and the gradual decimation of the Yanomami people, a as mercury has limited the reproductive capacity of women.

Armed Forces Action

The report also considered as a “strategic mistake” the government having relegated to the Armed Forces, at the beginning of the operation, only the role of logistical support for the other institutions. According to the organizations, if the involvement of the Armed Forces had been planned from the beginning, it might have been possible to expand the capacity of the Bapes (Funai Protection Bases) and the planning of new structures in other strategic points.

“It was only on June 21 that Decree No. 11,405 was amended, finally attributing to the Ministry of Defense the ‘execution of preventive and repressive actions against transboundary and environmental crimes, along the land border strip and in inland waters, through the promotion of patrol actions, searches of people, land vehicles, vessels and aircraft, and arrests in flagrante delicto, among others”, states the document.

Recommendations to the federal government

The report presents at least 32 recommendations to be implemented by federal government authorities in the indigenous land. Among them are health promotion, neutralization of gold mining, reoccupation of the UBSs with the support of security forces and development of activities for the socioeconomic recovery of communities.

There is also a request for the maintenance of airspace control to be guaranteed indefinitely, reinforcement of monitoring in border areas, in addition to regular inspection of the aviation fuel trade in Roraima and Amazonas. In this context, the total destruction of the machinery used in the extraction of gold and cassiterite is also requested, together with the application of the respective administrative sanctions.

to the portal real amazon, the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples recognized that there are issues to be resolved in the Yanomami Indigenous Land, but that “rebuilding the damage that was done over years of neglect takes some time”. According to the folder, the treatment given to the Yanomami and other peoples “has changed for the better”, but it did not present data or facts to prove this narrative. The ministry also cited as a sign of this “change” the trip of a government delegation to the Forum of Leaders of the Yanomami and Ye’kwana Indigenous Land, in July.