Just a year ago, images of starving children of the Yanomami ethnic group with their ribs visible left
much of Brazil in
shock .
It was a photograph of a social crisis caused by the activities of poaching miners who in recent years invaded the Yanomami territory, a huge region of Amazon rainforest the size of Portugal where some 28,000 indigenous people live.
Many of them live with the constant harassment of gold seekers, who contaminate the rivers with mercury, destroying fishing, their main source of food, and filling the villages with contagious diseases, threats and all kinds of violations.
One of the first measures of the Lula Government upon assuming power in January 2023 was to launch a macro-operation to expel the
garimpeiros.
A year later, the indigenous people maintain that the situation has improved slightly, but the problem continues.
Most of the 20,000
garimpeiros
who pierced the jungle and rivers with barges and heavy machinery left in a hurry in the first months of last year.
It was a disorderly exodus in which hardly anyone was arrested.
The authorities limited themselves to identifying them, and did not make clear what would be the fate of all those miners, many of them dangerously armed and with connections to criminal organizations.
The Yanomami organization Hutukara claims that 80% of the
garimpeiros
left in the first months, but that in the second half, there was a “massive return.”
The landing strips opened in the middle of the jungle for the small planes that fly out with the gold were largely destroyed by the Brazilian military, but many have already been recovered.
The indigenous people denounce that the garimpeiros
have now
moved to other areas, work night shifts to avoid control operations and have the protection of armed men.
Poaching miners use water jets to dig for gold, December 3, 2023.UESLEI MARCELINO (REUTERS)
Illegal mining on Yanomami land continues to grow, but it is clear that the environment is more hostile to criminals than during Jair Bolsonaro's time in the Presidency.
In recent years, the affected area has increased an average of 40% each year.
In 2023, the
garimpo
continued to grow, but less, by 7%.
More than 5,400 hectares have already been completely destroyed by the search for gold, according to a detailed report carried out by indigenous associations in collaboration with Greenpeace and the Socio-Environmental Institute, which have helped by capturing satellite images.
Environmental damage is accompanied by a serious social and health crisis.
At least seven indigenous people died in confrontations with firearms.
The expulsions and threats are continuous, and the Yanomami speak of a “state of war.”
Additionally, 308 natives died from infectious, parasitic and respiratory diseases related to contact with non-indigenous people.
Due to the continued feeling of insecurity in the villages, the health professionals sent by the Government refuse to visit the most dangerous areas, which are left completely unattended.
In a region called Xitei, where more than 2,000 people live, less than 2% of babies under one year old have been able to be vaccinated.
Here, at least 12 children under five died last year, five from pneumonia.
One of the main problems to be solved is what to do with those thousands of miners and how to shortcut the chains of gold exploitation.
The indigenous leader Davi Kopenawa asked for more firmness in a video addressed to the Brazilian authorities: “We must put them in jail so that they learn to respect.
That's missing (...) we don't have to take the
garimpeiro
who is harming our mother Earth and take him to his house, because later he will go back to demolishing the jungle and dirtying the water.
Machines destroy everything,” he lamented.
The Government, for its part, assumes that there is still much to do, but promises to continue investing in the region.
Two weeks ago, a delegation led by the Minister of Indigenous Peoples, Sônia Guajajara, visited the Yanomami territory and confirmed that the efforts so far were insufficient to expel all the poaching miners.
President Lula determined that the emergency measures taken last year in response to the humanitarian crisis become permanent, with the constant presence of the Armed Forces and the Federal Police.
Throughout this year, it is expected to spend 1.2 billion reais (more than 240 million dollars).
A Yanomami woman collects ants to eat with the help of a branch.
UESLEI MARCELINO (REUTERS)
Last year, the authorities worked hard to destroy the
garimpeiros
' material that they found in their path.
Setting fire to equipment illegally placed in the middle of the jungle is the most common practice, given the difficulties of moving it.
39 small planes, 550 engines, 88 rafts, 52 boats and more than 5,000 meters of extraction hoses were destroyed, which gives an idea of the size of the problem.
Even so, the garimpeiros are still in the area.
Many moved temporarily to Venezuela when the agents were tightening the siege, and returned to Brazil shortly after.
Economic asphyxiation is the most discreet but most effective way to eradicate the problem at its roots.
According to the Federal Police, in these surveillance actions, assets worth more than 589 million reais (118 million dollars) were blocked or confiscated and more than 60.3 million reais (12.1 million dollars) were imposed in fines. Dollars).
There are also 387 investigations underway, including some focused on the major sponsors of the illegal gold trade, with the aim of reaching the largest financiers, who, surely, are very far from the jungle.
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