Lula defends the use of the power of the public sector against illegal mining

One year after the humanitarian crisis in the Yanomami Indigenous Land came to light, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva defended, this Tuesday (9), the use of all the power of the public machinery against illegal mining in indigenous lands.

Lula coordinated a ministerial meeting, at Palácio do Planalto, to discuss the current situation of the Yanomami people, in Roraima, who still suffer from the actions of invaders in their indigenous land.

“We will decide to treat the Roraima issue, the indigenous issue and the Yanomami issue, as a State issue. We are going to have to make an even greater effort, using all the power that the public sector can have. Because it is not possible that we can lose a war to illegal mining, to illegal loggers, to people who are doing things against what the law determines,” he stated.
New actions

On December 21, 2023, the Federal Court of Roraima determined the creation of a new schedule of actions against illegal mining in the Yanomami Indigenous Land (TI). In the decision, the Union, the National Foundation of Indigenous Peoples (Funai), the Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama) and the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio) are cited.

The decision responded to a request from the Federal Public Ministry (MPF). According to the agency, invaders persist in the territory, “which affects the safety, health and lives of indigenous peoples”.

On December 23, President Lula called a ministerial meeting, similar to the one this Tuesday, and ordered federal agencies to reinforce protection measures for the indigenous Yanomami people, in addition to combating illegal mining in Roraima and Amazonas. At the meetings, assessments were made of the measures implemented in the region in 2023 and the planning of future actions.

“We have demarcated indigenous territories, we have to take care of them with great care, and this meeting here is to define, once and for all, what our government will do to prevent Brazilian indigenous people from continuing to be victims of massacre, of vandalism, mining and people who want to invade areas that are preserved and owned by indigenous people and cannot be used”, said President Lula.

After taking office, still in January 2023, Lula visited the Yanomami Indigenous Land, in Roraima, and saw up close the health crisis affecting indigenous people, victims of malnutrition and other diseases. The IT is the largest in the country, in territorial extension, and suffers from the invasion and violence of miners and the contamination of land and water by the mercury used in mining.

In assessing the actions carried out last year, the government cites measures to combat the serious health and nutritional situation of the population and environmental crimes.

The Federal Police launched 13 operations, 114 search and seizure warrants, 175 arrests in the act and seized assets worth R$589 million. There are still 387 investigations underway. In addition, control of the airspace of the Yanomami TI was carried out, to combat clandestine flights and supplies to gold mines.
Reports

Although indigenous entities and bodies such as the MPF have been denouncing the lack of assistance to these communities for a long time, with the inauguration of President Lula the federal government began to implement measures to help the Yanomami.

According to the MPF, the withdrawal of the miners was determined by the courts as part of a public civil action filed against federal agencies in 2020. The objective was to guarantee the publication and implementation of an emergency plan for effective territorial monitoring actions on indigenous land.

“The measure should make it possible to combat environmental crimes and remove offenders. However, the efforts undertaken by federal agencies to date have proven ineffective,” warned the agency.

In the recent request to Justice, the MPF highlights that the “promising results” of government operations carried out in the territory, at the beginning of 2023, were unable to prevent the reoccupation of areas by mining. Such actions, according to the agency, generated positive results until the beginning of the second semester, when there was a setback due to the return of non-indigenous people to illicit mineral exploration activities, especially in areas that had already been deforested.

“There are several reports of grooming, prostitution, encouraging the consumption of drugs and alcoholic beverages and even rape of indigenous people by miners”, denounces the Public Ministry.

The meeting was attended by vice-president Geraldo Alckmin, the ministers of the Civil House, Rui Costa; of Justice and Public Security, Flávio Dino; of Defense, José Mucio; Development and Social Assistance, Wellignton Dias; Health, Nísia Trindade; of Management and Innovation in Public Services, Esther Dweck; of Environment and Climate Change, Marina Silva; of Human Rights and Citizenship, Silvio de Almeida; of Indigenous Peoples, Sônia Guajajara; from the General Secretariat, Márcio Macedo; from the Institutional Relations Secretariat, Alexandre Padilha; from the Social Communication Secretariat, Paulo Pimenta; and the Attorney General of the Union, Jorge Messias.

Also present at the meeting were the chief of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Armed Forces, squadron admiral Renato de Aguiar Freire; the director general of the Federal Police (PF), Andrei Rodrigues; the president of the National Foundation of Indigenous Peoples (Funai), Joenia Wapichana; the executive secretary of the Civil House, Miriam Belchior; and the director of the Amazon and Environment of the PF, Humberto Freire de Barros.

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