Brazil: Illegal miners are being removed from Roraima, Lula says
The president considers situation of the Yanomami indigenous degrading
Published on 08/02/2023 - 07:45 By Heloisa Cristaldo – Reporter at Agência Brasil - Brasília
Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva wrote Tuesday (Jan. 7) on his Twitter account, his government will not allow mining on indigenous lands. In his message from him, Lula said a process of removal of illegal miners is being carried out in Roraima.
The president pointed out there are 840 clandestine airstrips in the region, 75 of which are near Yanomami lands. "It is not possible not to see this. Whoever allowed this must be held responsible," Lula wrote.
According to the president, the control of indigenous lands will be restructured with the participation of mayors and governors.
destroying presence
In a press conference Monday (6), Minister of Indigenous Peoples Sonia Guajajara described as destructive the existence of illegal mining in the Yanomami indigenous territory.
More:
https://agenciabrasil.ebc.com.br/en/direitos-humanos/noticia/2023-02/illegal-miners-are-being-removed-roraima-says-lula#
= new reply since forum marked as read
3 minute read
February 8, 2023 12:48 PM CST Last Updated 3 hours ago
By Amanda Perobelli
BOA VISTA, Brazil, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Brazil's environmental and indigenous agencies have launched an enforcement operation in the Amazon rainforest to expel thousands of illegal gold miners blamed for causing a humanitarian crisis among the Yanomami people, officials said on Wednesday.
Armed agents of the government's environmental protection agency Ibama, deployed by helicopter and motor boat since Monday, have arrested and removed dozens of miners in Brazil's largest indigenous reservation on the northern border with Venezuela.
They set fire to wooden shacks and a hangar housing a plane at a clandestine airstrip used by miners to fly in supplies, according to images supplied by Ibama.
By Tuesday, the agency said it had destroyed a helicopter, a plane and a bulldozer, and seized weapons, 12-meter (40-ft) boats and drums with 5,000 liters (1,320 gallons) of fuel, besides generators, internet antennas, freezers and a tonne of food, The operation was backed by the government's indigenous affairs agency Funai and supported by military personnel who manned blockades on the rivers to cut off the flow of supplies to the miners, Ibama said in a statement.
More:
https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/brazil-agencies-launch-raid-against-illegal-gold-miners-yanomami-lands-2023-02-08/
Or:
https://archive.ph/LJQtp#selection-815.0-815.221
FABIANO MAISONNAVE and EDMAR BARROS
Feb. 8, 2023|
Updated: Feb. 8, 2023 1:05 p.m.
1 of 14 Miners leave the Yanomami Indigenous territory ahead of expected operations against illegal mining in Alto Alegre, Roraima state, Brazil, Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023. The government declared a public health emergency for the Yanomami people in the Amazon, who are suffering from malnutrition and diseases such as malaria as a consequence of illegal mining.Edmar Barros/AP
ALTO ALEGRE, Brazil (AP) — Armed government officials with Brazil's justice, Indigenous and environment ministries pressed illegal gold miners out of Yanomami Indigenous territory Wednesday, citing widespread river contamination, famine and disease they have brought to one of the most isolated groups in the world.
People involved in illegal gold dredging streamed away from the territory on foot. The operation could take months. There are believed to be some 20,000 people engaged in the activity, often using toxic mercury to separate the gold. An estimated 30,000 Yanomami people live in Brazil’s largest Indigenous territory, which covers an area roughly the size of Portugal and stretches across Roraima and Amazonas states in the northwest corner of Brazil’s Amazon.
The authorities — the Brazilian environmental agency Ibama, with support from the National Foundation of Indigenous Peoples and the National Guard — found an airplane, a bulldozer, and makeshift lodges and hangars, and destroyed them — as permitted by law. Two guns and three boats with 5,000 liters (1,320 gallons) of fuel were seized. They also discovered a helicopter hidden in the forest and set it ablaze.
Ibama established a checkpoint next to a Yanomami village on the Uraricoera River to interrupt the miners' supply chain there. Agents seized the 12-meter (39-foot) boats, loaded with a ton of food, freezers, generators, and internet antennas. The cargo will now supply the federal agents. No more boats carrying fuel and equipment will be allowed to proceed past the blockade.
More:
https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/world/article/brazil-squeezes-illegal-miners-out-of-yanomami-17771504.php
Or:
https://archive.ph/NC9KY
(Don't let the door hit you on your butts on your way out.)
