November 30, 2021

07:11

Victória Sales – Cenarium Magazine

MANAUS – During the operation of the Federal Police (PF), with support from the National Security Forces, in the region of the Madeira, in Amazonas, three people were arrested and 131 rafts used for illegal mining were seized and destroyed. Hundreds of dredges moored in the waters of the location, in total, more than 300 rafts were identified performing the activity, since last Tuesday, 23rd.

After a large amount of gold was identified in one of the largest rivers in the Amazon, the Federal Police is working to dismantle the illegal extraction of the product. According to the security force, actions such as these cause great damage to the environment, as they wipe out several types of food, including fish, which are sources of income for riverside families who live, mainly, in the municipality of Autazes, the region closest to where the vessels are located.

Read more: Doctor in Socio-Environmental Science defends alternative legal income for miners

Operation Uiara

On Saturday, 27, agents of the Federal Police and the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama) dismantled an action against a group of illegal miners operating in the region of the Madeira. During the first day of action, at least 30 rafts were set on fire, and others were removed, after leaks of the police action that would take place at the site.

According to the Federal Police, the operation had the support of agents from Amazonas and Paraná, Federal District, Paraíba and Pará. In addition to the “rafts”, machinery, mercury and gold were seized by the agents, in unknown quantities. Videos released by the miners and captured by local residents also show moments of the operation with the rafts set on fire in the Paraná do Maracá, one of the branches of the Rio Madeira.

The rafts were accessed by Federal Police helicopters and speedboats, which landed on the banks of the Rio Madeira. Agents left the aircraft armed and approached the miners, who, for the most part, showed no resistance. According to reports from residents of the Rosarinho community, a region near where part of the rafts were located, the agents gave them two minutes to remove themselves from the rafts.

Revolt

The day after the PF operation, a group of miners held a protest in the main square of Borba, in Amazonas (149 kilometers from Manaus). In conversations on WhatsApp, the miners asked the mayor of the municipality to attend and give an answer to the miners who had their rafts set on fire by security agents.

In a video posted on social networks, a miner, surrounded by other people, who appear to be family and friends, asks for help and the sending of a boat to leave the site. The man, who says he is in the community of Rosarinho, in Autazes, appeals to the mayor of Manicoré, Lúcio Flávio do Rosário (PSD).

“We want here to ask for the support of our mayor of Manicoré. We request help for us who are in Rosarinho. Please send a boat or authorize someone to take us, someone who is watching this video, we need support. Many parents are in need. Your mayor, do something for us”, says the miner.

Praise

The vice-president of the Republic, Hamilton Mourão (PRTB), defended, this Monday morning, 29, the operation articulated by National Security Forces, this weekend, which destroyed several boats that were used for illegal mining. “Operation was done immediately. It had to be done the way it was done. What is illegal has to have its equipment seized and destroyed”, he stressed.

“The mining site has already been properly dispersed, but you have to keep constant surveillance, because there is gold there. Without surveillance the people will come back”, stated the vice-president. Soon after the operation, the Minister of Justice, Anderson Torres, went to social networks and said that the ministry acted “immediately” against the crime.