August 1, 2021

16:08

Marcela Leiros – from Cenarium

MANAUS – The death of an indigenous man caused by a plane crash on Yanomami land may have involvement with criminal organizations. This is what the president of the Indigenous Health Council Yanomami and Ye’kwana (Condisi-YY), Junior Hekurari Yanomami, which operates within the IT, denounces to CENARIUM.

The Yanomami people in Roraima, a constant target of attacks by miners located inside the indigenous land, suspect the involvement of militias in the attacks against the indigenous people of the region. “The Federal Police is investigating the involvement of the militia in the Yanomami indigenous land. The miners work with so many weapons that are used by the Armed Forces, such as submachine guns and fusils, that there is an investigation that the miners are part of a militia”, he highlighted.

The report team tried to contact the Federal Police in Roraima, but did not get a reply. The climate of violence in the Indigenous Territory has been escalating since May of this year, when constant attacks on the Yanomami people began. On Friday the 30th, Condisi-YY denounced that an indigenous man, 25 years old, identified as Edgar Yanomami, died after being run over by an airplane driven by miners on an airstrip in the community of Homoxi, Yanomami indigenous land, in the municipality of Iracema, interior of Roraima.

The Yanomami indigenous land is the largest reserve in Brazil, covering almost 10 million hectares between the states of Roraima and Amazonas, and part of Venezuela. Around 27,000 indigenous people live in the region in more than 360 communities. The area has been the target of illegal gold mining since the 1980s, causing armed conflict, forest degradation and threatening the health of the indigenous people.

Tense atmosphere

According to Hekurari Yanomami, the climate in the community is tense in the face of attacks and omission by the state and federal governments. Although actions have already been taken to combat illegal mining within the reserve, these have not yet had any permanent effect.

” The atmosphere in the community continues to be tense, and there has been an escalation of violence. We have already denounced the presence of illegal mining to the Federal Police several times. The government sent the National Force, but they don’t have the resources, they don’t have enough helicopters. The indigenous land is very large, the points of the miners are spread out, it doesn’t work with 20 or 30 police officers,” confirmed the president of Condisi-YY.

He added: “One helicopter and one plane won’t work. There has to be a permanent operation, together with the Federal Police, together with Ibama [the Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources], not for a week or five days. The miners are taking over Yanomami land.