By the end of the month, the Federal Police will install a base in the Yanomami indigenous land, located in the state of Roraima. The objective is to keep the structure in place for at least six months, which is in the midst of a dispute between miners and indigenous people.
The base will serve as a point of support for the intensification of inspection work against illegal mining in the region. The corporation’s decision comes amid complaints of violence against indigenous people in the territory.
Details on the size of the PF’s staff and how the base will be set up are still being defined. In addition to the police, members of Ibama (Brazilian Institute for the Environment), Funai (National Indian Foundation) and the Ministry of Defense also participate in conversations about the base.
Also this Wednesday, the Chamber of Deputies approved a diligence and should join the Senate on a trip to Roraima. The parliamentarians’ objective is to talk to indigenous leaders, local authorities and security forces to better understand the conflict.
The trip is scheduled for the next 11th and 12th. Agenda and participants are not yet defined.
As it comprises a region with conflicts and difficult to access, the delegation of parliamentarians will need the support of the Air Force and possibly other federal agencies to carry out the reconnaissance of the place – something that is still being negotiated.
“If it is not possible, we will try with the main leaders in Boa Vista [capital do estado] to talk”, says senator Humberto Costa (PT-PE), who is leading the initiative together with deputy Joênia Wapichana (Rede-RR).
“This is a response from Parliament. At all times we see, in the news, violence in indigenous lands becoming increasingly serious. There is an appeal from Brazilian society to respond to recent complaints of ‘where are the Yanomami?'” , said the deputy.
The parliamentarian refers to the latest campaign that has inflated social networks in recent days seeking an answer to the disappearance of 24 indigenous people from the Araçá community.
The episode is the latest in the escalation of tension and violence between the region’s Yanomami and the miners.
On April 25 this year, local indigenous leaders denounced that members of illegal mining had kidnapped, raped and murdered a 12-year-old girl.
The accusation was made by the Condisi-YY (District Council for Yanomami and Ye’kwana Indigenous Health), but a statement issued by the federal government states that an investigation carried out by the Federal Public Ministry, Funai and the Special Secretariat for Indigenous Health found no evidence of murder or rape.
Members of the Federal Police, in turn, told the Sheet that the disappearance of indigenous people on Yanomami land has nothing to do with the aggression of miners.
According to interlocutors, police officers who were with people from the community shortly before the indigenous people left the place stated that the departure had taken place voluntarily.
The investigation into the case is ongoing. When the task force of public agencies went to the Araçá community to investigate the death of the 12-year-old girl, they found the place completely empty and some houses burned.
It is not yet known what happened. Condisi-YY states that it is possible that it is a village tradition, of burning their houses and moving to another place after the death of a relative – a term used by the indigenous people to refer to their own – but it cannot be ruled out that it could be retaliation by the miners for the complaint.
“These indigenous people were coerced and instructed not to report any occurrence that had taken place in the region, making it difficult for the Federal Police and the Federal Public Ministry to investigate, which ended up reporting that there was no evidence of rape or disappearance of a child”, says a note from the indigenous entity. .
“Some indigenous people reported that they could not speak, as they had received 5g of gold from the miners to keep silent”, the document continues.
The Minister of the Federal Supreme Court Cármem Lúcia said last Thursday (28) that this “perversity […] cannot remain as statistical data, as normal facts of life”.
A report by the Hutukara Associação Yanomami entity also points out that the Araçá community is “on the way to disappearing” and that part of it does not produce its own food, which increases the vulnerability of the indigenous people. In addition, the introduction of alcoholic beverages and diseases by mining is another threat.
Araçá is close to the Palimiu region where, in 2021, several indigenous communities were attacked by armed miners.
