Yanomami: miners play a game of cat and mouse to escape – 07/04/2023 – Daily life

The illegal mining groups that are still present within the Yanomami Indigenous Land, in Roraima, changed their way of operating and began to use the proximity to the Venezuelan border to escape the Brazilian authorities.

A Sheet flew over the territory for more than two hours on the 27th, at the invitation of the Armed Forces, with the objective of passing through Homoxi —one of the largest points of illegal extraction, with more than 16 km in length, now deactivated— and through the village of Palimiú , support point of the operation.

Apparently deactivated mines, a clandestine airstrip, an aircraft and even a possible irregular vessel were seen along the way.

Agents claim that the mission has been hampered by the size of the area, the largest indigenous land in the country (96,650 km²). This allows illegal planes to escape across the border, in a kind of cat and mouse game.

The operation against the illegal exploitation of Yanomami territory began in early February of this year, after President Lula (PT) visited the region and the Ministry of Health declared a health emergency in the area.

Since then, Ibama (Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources), the Federal Police, the Federal Highway Police and the National Force, together with Funai (National Foundation of Indigenous Peoples) and the Armed Forces have worked to expel the miners.

At the beginning of the year, the health situation was serious in the area, with a high incidence of malaria and malnutrition —problems, in large part, caused by illegal mining.

Indigenous health posts were found to have a series of problems. The list includes missing food, medicine and having problems with cleanliness, such as feces strewn across the floor.

During his administration, Jair Bolsonaro (PL) encouraged mining, including proposing laws to regulate extraction within indigenous territories, which is currently prohibited. From 2020 to 2022, illegal activity tripled in the region, according to PF data.

Five months after the deintrusion operation, the garimpeiros lost space within the territory and are now concentrated in a few regions. The environment is also starting to show signs of recovery.

Compared to January, in June the rivers no longer have a light brown color, a consequence of drilling the soil to extract gold, which causes the earth to mix with the water and make it muddy, in addition to contaminating it with mercury. .

The surroundings of the deactivated mines are also beginning to show undergrowth.

The informal estimate of the security forces is that currently only 10% of miners continue to work in the area.

People involved in the actions claim, on condition of anonymity, that the profile of these groups has changed as a result of the government operation. Among the new tactics are the increase in night work, the creation of camps inside the forest and the burying of equipment during the day to make inspection more difficult.

According to these people, the prospectors hide in spots that are up to 5 kilometers inside the forest and are also in the regions closest to the border with Venezuela.

With the main rivers in the region blocked, the supply needs to be done by air.

According to members of the FAB (Brazilian Air Force), the pilots of the official aircraft went to notify the mission control whenever they saw suspicious planes.

A check is then made to see if there are any aircraft authorized to fly on that route — all flight plans in the region must be previously approved, including those related to indigenous health.

If not, there is an Air Force plane on duty 24 hours a day at the base that can take off in up to ten minutes.

“In case of suspicion, they are subjected to interrogation procedures by aircraft on alert [no chão ou em voo]which may result in a request for a change of route and a mandatory landing”, said FAB Colonel Murilo Grassi Salvatti, who has been active since the beginning of the operation.

The strategy, however, has faced difficulties, according to members of the operation who were interviewed on condition of anonymity.

In addition to fleeing to Venezuela, other tactics used by the prospectors include flying the aircraft through clouds, which makes visibility difficult, and making quick landings on clandestine airstrips, taking off again before the PF team manages to reach the location.

So far, no plane or helicopter from the garimpo has been shot down, only warning shots have been fired.

When asked to provide more information about the interceptions, the FAB sent news published on its website about four mining aircraft destroyed in operations, two intercepted during flight and two others found on the ground.