The Federal Court in Roraima determined this Monday (23) that the federal government resume actions for the removal of thousands of miners who are in the Yanomami Indigenous Land (TI), the largest in Brazil. The decision obliges the Jair Bolsonaro government (PL) to present a new plan, on an emergency basis, to remove the miners, due to failure to comply with previous court decisions.
THE Sheet showed this Monday that only 9 (2.1%) of the 421 mining points in the indigenous land were the target of some type of police action, within a plan formulated by the Bolsonaro government to attempt to remove the miners. There are around 20,000, according to associations representing indigenous people.
Of the 277 support points used by miners, such as airstrips and clandestine ports, only 70 (25.3%) have been inspected since 2020.
The data are from the MPF (Federal Public Ministry) in Roraima, which filed a new request with the Federal Court to force the federal government to arrange for the removal of the invaders from the Yanomami land. The request resulted in the new court decision.
Decisions in this regard have already been rendered by the Federal Court in the state, by the TRF-1 (Federal Regional Court of the 1st Region) and by the STF (Supreme Federal Court). The first decision is from 2020.
The Ministry of Justice and Public Security drew up an operational plan for the purpose of removing the invaders, but the actions ended up not taking place and the presence of miners increased over the years, in the face of Bolsonaro’s speech in favor of the invaders, the exploitation of gold and mining on indigenous lands.
The ministry did not respond to questions in the report about the non-execution of the plan, non-compliance with judicial decisions and the new decision of the Justice. The folder said that “the mining issue is with the Federal Police”. The PF also did not respond to questions in the report.
There is a lack of air logistics infrastructure for inspection and deintrusion activities. According to investigators working in the region, an aircraft used by the PF is located in Manaus, more than 600 km from the territory. Funai (Fundação Nacional do Índio) in Roraima does not have a plane available. Neither does the MPF.
The Armed Forces have refused to supply aircraft, and IBAMA (Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources) has only eight vehicles of this type to meet the needs of the entire country, according to sources heard by the report on the condition that anonymity.
From there, the MPF filed a new lawsuit, which resulted in the decision on Monday.
The Justice determined that the National Public Security Force remain in the region to ensure the reopening of the basic health unit in Homoxi, so that the Ministry of Health can resume service in the region.
The health post had its structure threatened due to a crater opened by mining, and miners took over the landing strip destined for the Secretariat of Indigenous Health, according to the MPF.
The MPF’s request included the reactivation of the Funai inspection post in Serra dos Surucucus, where 6,000 recently contacted indigenous people live. The site had already been the target of an intense gold rush in the 70s and 80s.
According to information released by the MPF, the Justice determined that the National Force should also support the reactivation of the Funai post in the region.
The decision is kept confidential, within a process that is also being processed under secrecy in the Federal Court in Roraima.
According to the MPF, the Justice forced the Union, Ibama (Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources) and Funai to work together to combat environmental illicit in indigenous lands.
An inter-institutional team, made up of “command and control forces”, must be created to respond to the judicial decision, according to the MPF. The team must remain on the logo until there is “extrusion of all environmental offenders”.
The federal government must also destroy or render useless all instruments used for mining.
Failure to comply with the decision to create a new emergency plan is subject to a penalty of R$500,000 per day. Failure to remove the miners was already subject to a penalty of R$ 1 million.
Since Bolsonaro’s election in 2018, the number of miners in the indigenous land has exploded. There are 20,000, according to indigenous associations.
Vice President Hamilton Mourão (Republicans) disputes this figure and says that there are about 3,000 miners in the region. The number, however, is considered underestimated by people linked to the mining industry.
A single group, with 12 helicopter pilots, generated more than BRL 200 million in two years. The group also made use of a shell company and transfers of funds abroad.
Mining on indigenous lands is prohibited by law. The Federal Constitution determines that the activity needs regularization and approval from Congress, which does not yet exist.
According to the MPF, 3,059 deforestation alerts were registered for mining on Yanomami land between August 2020 and February 2022. Deforestation reached almost 11 km². In a single month, in January this year, there were 216 alerts.
