Justice orders Lula government to create new plan against illegal mining

In response to a request made by the Federal Public Ministry (MPF), the Federal Court in Roraima ordered the holding of a conciliation hearing with the Union, the National Foundation of Indigenous Peoples (Funai), the Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Natural Resources Renováveis ​​(Ibama) and the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio) to create a new schedule of actions against illegal mining in the Yanomami Indigenous Land.

In the request, the MPF said that the operations promoted by the Lula government at the beginning of the year were unable to prevent the reoccupation of the areas by mining.

“It was noted that mining is a criminal enterprise of great resilience and high capacity for reorganization, therefore requiring the constant improvement of command and control strategies”, highlighted the public prosecutor responsible for the case, Alisson Marugal.

According to the MPF, the activity of illegal miners is linked to criminal organizations “that provide logistical, financial and weapons support so that the miners continue to confront state agents”.

Released on December 21st, the decision points out that the government did not adopt satisfactory measures for the effective monitoring of the Yanomami Indigenous Land and that it did not carry out permanent inter-institutional planning to guarantee the safety, health and lives of local peoples and health professionals working in the territory.

According to the Public Ministry, “the Brazilian State remains in default before the indigenous peoples”.

Furthermore, according to the MPF, “the problem of mining also arises in a context of rampant malnutrition among children, while health facilities were taken over by invaders and transformed into a logistical center for illegal activity”.

Data from the official monthly report on care in the Yanomami Indigenous Special Health District (DSEi-Y), until October 4, 2023, indicates the record of more than 20 thousand notifications of influenza and 18.6 thousand of malaria. At least 215 deaths were confirmed, 155 of them within the indigenous land itself.