The words “garimpo” and “destruction” have returned to frequent the Yanomami Indigenous Land in recent years. Since its demarcation, 30 years ago, the territory has been experiencing one of its moments of greatest attention amid the increase in deforestation, health problems and the intensification of garimpeiro harassment.
The reality of risks in indigenous land, however, is already old. At least since the 1970s, indigenous people in the region have suffered from contact with outsiders, which has led to a huge death toll in the region.
On September 2, 1979 this Sheet published a headline that read “Yanomami are threatened with extinction, without a park”. The text read about thousands of sick and dead indigenous people and that one of the main threats at that time was the BR-210, known as Perimetral Norte.
“A thousand Indians killed by viral diseases and entire groups reduced to begging and prostitution. A few were recruited as sub-labor for the inexhaustible work of the sawmills or, on the farms, as cowboys, to watch over their own scourge: the ox “, says the report, which warned that vaccination teams requested three years before were still not working in the area.
The mining was also another point that had already been raised and found support in part of the political power.
In the following decade, the 1980s, the invasion of tens of thousands of miners —there is talk of between 30,000 and 40,000— in the indigenous land became a reality. At that time, moreover, the territory was divided into about 21 small indigenous settlement cells, a fragmentation that was seen as another point of fragility.
“It was an attempt to consolidate the garimpeiro presence in the territory”, says Márcio Santilli, founding partner of ISA (Socio-Environmental Institute) and former president of Funai (National Indian Foundation), about the demarcated “islands”.
In a few years, it is estimated that around 20% of the Yanomami have died, according to the NGO Survival International, which participated in the movements of organizations and indigenous people for the demarcation of the Yanomami Indigenous Land.
It was only in 1992, with a decree on May 25, that then-President Fernando Collor de Mello would ratify the Yanomami Indigenous Land.
Over time and after great human losses, part of the invaders were expelled from the indigenous land. Several problems persisted, however.
“Increasingly, the Indian is a human being just like us”, said President Jair Bolsonaro (PL), during one of his weekly lives, in 2020. “The Yanomami reserve has more or less 10 thousand Indians. The size is two The State of Rio de Janeiro. Justifies that? It’s one of the lands with the richest subsoil in the world. Nobody is going to demarcate land with poor subsoil. Now what does the world see in the Amazon, forest? of the land”, he said, also in 2020.
The president is an advocate of mining on indigenous lands, despite the visible destruction and social problems that illegal mining brings to these protected socio-environmental areas.
Once again, the indigenous land is faced with an escalation of destruction by mining, in addition to reports of violence, rapes and murder. Inpe data show an explosion of deforestation in 2019, the first year under the Bolsonaro government, reaching the highest value in the available database (since 2008), with more than 19 km² felled. The number is not high, compared to the great deforestation in the Amazon, but it is higher than in previous years.
Under Bolsonaro, the accumulated deforestation reaches more than 28 km² — more than 17 times the area of ​​Ibirapuera Park, in São Paulo —, a value higher than that seen in previous governments.
A report produced by Hutukara Associação Yanomami and Associação Wanasseduume Ye’kwana, with technical assistance from ISA, points out that, in 2021, destruction associated with mining grew 46% in indigenous land compared to 2020, reaching 3,272 hectares. Monitoring has been done since 2018 and this was the largest increase ever documented.
“These predatory mining ventures are highly capitalized. We are no longer talking about artisanal mining. Today we are talking about highly destructive mining, with gigantic dredgers and excavators introduced into these territories. We are talking about air logistical support, of gigantic undertakings.”
Also according to Santini, the current situation has yet another veneer of complexity with the participation of organized crime organizations, the high price of gold internationally and the support that mining finds in the federal and state government of Roraima.
In 2021, state law 1,453, proposed by the governor of Roraima, Antônio Denarium (Progressistas), facilitated the release of mining in the state and also allowed the use of highly toxic mercury in the activity. The law was suspended by Minister Alexandre de Moraes, of the STF (Supreme Federal Court).
The report by the Hutukara Associação Yanomami also points to reports of sexual abuse and harassment of women and children. One of the cases would have occurred in the vicinity of the Apiaú River (in the course of which there is a voluntarily isolated people, the moxihatëtëma), where, according to the document, alcoholic beverages and drugs are frequently offered. The document exemplifies a kind of relationship arranged between a young Yanomami woman and a prospector, in exchange for goods.
Another case mentioned in the vicinity of this river is that of a prospector who allegedly offered drugs and drinks to indigenous people and who, when everyone was drunk, raped a child. There are also reports of sexual exploitation of indigenous women on the Mucajaà and Couto Magalhães rivers.
Recently, a report of another rape and death of children led to movement on social networks asking “Where are the Yanomami?”.
The health of indigenous people on the protected land is also a concern. According to a survey by the Hutukara Associação Yanomami, there is a crisis in the region, with an increase in cases of malaria and child malnutrition. The situation was recently highlighted with a photo of a Yanomami girl lying in a hammock with her ribs exposed.
“While you have an intense process of lack of assistance on the part of the Federal Government, you do have an incentive for third-party penetration and co-optation. You make use of the misery you generate to facilitate submission”, says the specialist.
Recently, a court decision pointed to the risk of “mass death of indigenous people” on Yanomami land. There is also a decision that determines actions for the removal of thousands of miners who are in the place.
“Political damage, image damage, environmental damage and material damage are now on a much larger scale than before. The unsustainability of this predatory model is even more blatant”, says Santini.
When contacted, Funai sent a link to a recent publication in which it states that it “coordinates permanent protection actions in the Yanomami Indigenous Land, in Roraima”. The foundation, in the text, describes actions to donate food and prevent the spread of Covid among indigenous people. In addition, it talks about operations against mining.
“A joint operation recently carried out fought illegal mining and resulted in the destruction of 22 aircraft, in addition to the seizure of another 89 and inspection of 87 clandestine airstrips in the Yanomami Indigenous Land,” says the note, which mentions 38 arrests for environmental crimes. and seizure of almost 30 thousand kilos of ore. “The operation also supported the extrusion of non-indigenous people and miners, in addition to the reestablishment of Ethnoenvironmental Protection Bases.”
When contacted, the government of Roraima stated that the law cited in the report concerned legal exploitation on state lands, not indigenous lands. In a statement, the state also cites several actions aimed at indigenous people, such as projects aimed at agriculture, fish and cattle breeding. “The cattle project is also a way of guaranteeing food security for indigenous peoples”, says the note.
