In addition to the increase in deaths, illegal mining is also growing on Yanomami lands

In addition to the 50% increase in the number of Yanomami deaths, the Yanomami territory also recorded growth in illegal mining in the year 2023. Report by the Instituto Socioambiental (ISA) and Hutukara Associação Yanomami, released this Friday (26), pointed out that mining grew 7% last year, compared to the year 2022.

The increase in deaths and illegal mining demonstrates that President Lula’s government was unable to reduce or stop the Yanomami crisis in the first year of Lula 3. “Illegal activity continues to operate with intensity in the territory”, highlights the report.

According to the document, the areas affected by illegal mining in the territory reached 5,432 hectares in 2023. They report that in the second half of the year, there was a “relaxation of repression actions, especially after the armed forces assumed a greater role in operations 3 “, and observed “the reactivation and intensification of exploration in several areas”.

“In addition to the destruction of the forest and rivers, directly impacting the economy of families, who depend on fish, hunting and healthy land to plant crops, mining also directly affects people’s health through the spread of infectious diseases, the increase in violence and mercury contamination”, says the report.

Faced with the increase in illegal mining, the report mentions that “the government has not yet presented a new plan for the extrusion of TIY miners.” “The plan initially presented by the current government would only take 9 months for total withdrawal (Phase 01 – 90 days; Phase 2 – 180 days), and, unfortunately, it was not successful”, he explains.

In the report, the institutions also mention that legal mining “destabilizes” the health service and generates “insecurity and conflict” in the areas. “Health professionals have avoided carrying out visits in many villages, with serious implications for carrying out fundamental basic care actions, such as vaccination, active search for malaria, prenatal care, etc”, they explain.

At the end of the report, ISA and the Association present the conclusion of the survey and point out some recommendations for the next steps to face the health emergency. “The data demonstrates that although the current government has mobilized to combat illegal mining in TIY in 2023, efforts were insufficient to neutralize the activity in its entirety”, concludes the report.

Among the recommendations, they present the “urgent resumption of operations to disintrude miners in the Territory”, the “development of a plan to encourage voluntary disarmament in sensitive regions”, the “promotion of adjustments in the response to the health crisis”, among others .

“Unsuccessful” government actions

Since January last year, the federal government has implemented a task force with the aim of reducing the long-standing situation of lack of health care in the region inhabited by the ethnic group, which covers part of the states of Roraima and Amazonas. For experts, there are chronic problems in the region that have persisted for years and cannot be easily resolved.

Even so, at the beginning of his term, Lula (PT) linked the high mortality and rates of malnutrition and disease among the Yanomami to an attempt at “genocide” by the previous government, Bolsonaro, and promised a quick resolution of the crisis.

However, as shown by Gazeta do Povo, a report from the Ministry of Health’s Secretariat of Indigenous Health (Sesai) published at the beginning of the year showed that Yanomami deaths in 2023 grew by almost 50% compared to the previous year. There were 308 victims compared to 209 in 2022.

In a meeting with the government team, on the 9th, President Lula decided to carry out a “strategic reassessment” of actions against illegal mining. He stated that the fight against illegal mining in the Yanomami Indigenous Land, in Roraima, must be treated as a “state issue” and compared the fight against them as a “war”.

Initially, Lula’s government planned to complete the disintrusion in 180 days, but is now seeking to present a new strategy after failing to achieve the expected objective. The president reinforced his commitment to treating the issue as a priority and assured that the Brazilian state will not accept defeats in the fight against illegal mining in Yanomami Land.