Federal judge Felipe Bouzada Viana, of the 2nd Civil Court in Roraima, pointed out in a judicial decision a risk of “mass death of indigenous people” in the Yanomami land, the largest in Brazil.
For the magistrate, the signs that genocide may occur “are clear”, with evidence listed in the course of a public civil action filed by the MPF (Federal Public Ministry) in the state.
Bouzada’s decision is last Monday (23). Like the entire process, it is kept confidential by the Federal Court.
It was in this decision that the judge ordered the federal government to resume actions for the removal of thousands of miners who are in the indigenous land.
The determination is for the Jair Bolsonaro (PL) government to present a new plan, on an emergency basis, to remove the miners, due to the failure to comply with previous court decisions.
There are 20,000 miners in the traditional territory, according to estimates by indigenous associations. Bolsonaro encourages mining, does not oppose the presence of invaders and tries to advance mining in indigenous lands. Since his election in October 2018, the number of prospectors in search of ores, especially gold, has exploded.
“This demand [a ação civil pública] was filed at the beginning of 2020; the authors have since been constantly warning about the possibility of tragedies and genocides occurring within the TIY [Terra IndÃgena Yanomami]”, said Bouzada in the decision.
“The signs are clear: the widespread occupation of indigenous territory by illegal mining, arming the indigenous population and enticing them into mining work, interruption of health services, reports of violence against women and children by miners, including some deaths,” said the judge.
For the magistrate, “nothing is needed for the worst of the scenarios to occur (mass death of indigenous people), with all the consequences arising therefrom, including the international responsibility of Brazil and sanctions, hypotheses that have already been raised by this court on other occasions”.
Bouzada also stated that Article 4 of Convention No. 169 of the ILO (International Labor Organization) establishes special measures to safeguard people, cultures and the “environment of the peoples concerned”. Brazil is a signatory to the ILO convention.
THE Sheet questioned the Ministry of Justice and Public Security, responsible for the operational plan to remove the miners from the indigenous land, about the failure to comply with the plan and previous court decisions and about the new determination of the Federal Court in Roraima.
The folder stated that “the mining issue is with the Federal Police”.
The PF, in turn, said that it does not represent the Union and that questions about judicial decisions should be directed to the AGU (Advocacy-General of the Union).
The AGU stated that “the Union was notified of the decision and analyzes with the competent bodies the procedural strategy that it will adopt”.
The risk of genocide on Yanomami land could repeat the tragedy of 1993, when 16 Yanomami were killed by miners who were in the territory.
The episode became known as the Haximu Massacre. The Federal Court convicted four miners for the crime of genocide, which consists of the extermination of an ethnic group. The decision was confirmed by the Federal Supreme Court (STF) in 2006.
In the new wave of illegal gold exploration on Yanomami land, which exploded with Bolsonaro, the federal government has been failing to comply with judicial decisions to remove the miners, according to the court decision handed down on Monday.
The non-compliance occurs mainly in the adoption of measures to monitor the territory with the aim of “preventing the return of non-indigenous people to the Yanomami Indigenous Land”, according to the decision.
The Hutukara Associação Yanomami is part of the process and reported to the Court “very serious” facts about the sexual exploitation of indigenous women, adolescents and girls in exchange for food.
All the elements raised in the case file point to the inefficiency of the Bolsonaro government in removing the miners from the indigenous land, according to the judge of the 2nd Federal Civil Court. This takes place amid the “immoderate advance of damage to the environment and the degradation of cultural characteristics and the health of the Yanomami”, according to Bouzada.
THE Sheet showed on 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.
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 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. The first decision is from 2020.
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.
The Justice determined that the National Force should also support the reactivation of the Funai (National Indian Foundation) post in the region.
The judge ordered União, 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. 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.
