It is absurd to speak of genocide of indigenous peoples, says secretary of the Ministry of Health

The Special Secretary for Indigenous Health at the Ministry of Health, Robson Santos, on Thursday (25) rebutted the accusations that the government had committed genocide against native peoples, especially the Yanomami, in the Amazon.

When participating in a hearing at the Senate Human Rights Commission, Santos classified this thesis as “absurd” and argued that more than half of the services provided to indigenous people are provided by other indigenous people. That, in his opinion, would make the crime of genocide impossible.

“That [de genocídio] it’s another nonsense, because when you say that, considering that 52% of our workforce is indigenous, so we didn’t have genocide, we had an ethnic war,” he said.

The possibility of holding Bolsonaro responsible for genocide against indigenous people was considered by Covid’s CPI rapporteur, Renan Calheiros (MDB-AL). The intention was to blame the president for deaths caused by government omissions in relation to indigenous peoples.

Renan abandoned the idea, but senator Randolfe Rodrigues (Rede-AP) recently promised that he would denounce Bolsonaro at the International Tribunal in The Hague for the situation of the Yanomami.

Santos stated that the government provided the necessary care and denied that medicines were distributed without efficacy to treat Covid to native peoples.

“There is a kind of collective amnesia, as if there had been no pandemic. There were not even hours/flight at that time, the airlines stopped. The Armed Forces were fundamental for us to take care, medication into the area,” he added.

Regarding the situation of the Yanomami, who are facing a serious health crisis, with the proliferation of cases of child malnutrition and malaria, in Roraima, the secretary said that it is not the ministry’s obligation to guarantee the food security of this population and attributed this responsibility to states and counties.

“We carried out nutritional surveillance. It’s not up to Sesai [Secretaria Especial de Saúde Indígena] food security, it is not the Ministry of Health’s responsibility to distribute basic food baskets. It doesn’t fit,” he said.

“There are other federal government agencies and I draw attention to states and municipalities that often back down from their responsibilities towards this population. Regardless of whether I am indigenous, wherever I am, I am a citizen. And the municipality and the state need to do their part,” he added.

With 9.6 million hectares (equivalent to Santa Catarina), the Yanomami indigenous land is the largest in the country. Almost all communities are only accessible by air.

Indigenous leaders attribute the calamity to the presence of around 20,000 illegal miners, stimulated by President Jair Bolsonaro’s repeated promises to legalize the activity.

Report published by sheet it also showed that delays in payment by the Ministry of Health to the air transport company interrupted regular flights to serve the Yanomami and put the health of around 28,000 indigenous people between the states of Roraima and Amazonas at risk.

Despite this situation, Santos stated that “everything that was possible was done” and highlighted that the Yanomami district received R$ 261 million in transfers this year.

“More than R$ 261 million were allocated to the Yanomami district, it is the district that receives the most funds. R$ 8.3 million was allocated just for the purchase of hospital medical supplies and equipment, R$ 28 million, in 2020, for the charter of aircraft; in 2021, R$29 million,” he informed.

Another problem faced by the Yanomami population is mercury contamination. ​​Illegal mining in the region has been growing at a rapid pace since the beginning of this year, as shown by a survey carried out using satellite images and aerial photographs taken in early April.

In the first quarter of 2021 alone, visible devastation corresponded to 200 hectares, around 10% of all the devastation accumulated in ten years.

Also present at the hearing, Funai’s chief prosecutor, Álvaro Simeão, said that the government has been fighting illegality in the district with operations, but that it is facing difficulties due to the fact that the indigenous people are also allying themselves with illegal mining.

“The Indians themselves, often, especially in the Surucucu region, join the miners who entice them and defend these unconstitutional and illegal mining operations on indigenous land and even confront the operations when they happen. The risk is very high. that indigenous people are killed in these operations. This needs to be considered,” he said.