Armed government officials with Brazil’s justice, indigenous and environment ministries were able to push out illegal gold miners from Yanomami region on Wednesday, which happens to an Indigenous territory. The gold miners were held responsible for causing river contamination, famine and bringing disease to an extremely isolated group in that region.
The Yanomami region is home to the Yanomami people, and about 30000 of them live in Brazil’s largest indigenous territory, in the northwest corner of Brazil’s Amazon. The region is resource-rich, especially in rare earth minerals – and nearly 20000 people have been involved in illegal gold dredging (using toxic mercury to separate the gold).
The illegal mining in Brazil and the usage of toxic dredging mechanisms have threatened the life of the indigenous people. The federal government has recently declared a public health emergency for the Yanomami people, who have become victims of malnutrition and deadly contagions. To that, we add the acute environmental degradation that takes place on account of the illicit mining operations.
The public health emergency has prompted a unified purge of the illicit miners from the territory, led by President Lula himself, who campaigned with a promise of expelling the gold miners. For years, the issue had been neglected by Lula’s predecessor, Bolsonaro – who had been reported to have colluded with private mining companies in an attempt to legalize the activity.
The Brazilian Operation
Presently, the operation is being conducted by Ibama, which is the environmental agency of Brazil, alongside drawing support from the National Foundation of Indigenous People, and the National Guard.
Together, the authorities tracked down and destroyed a bunch of mining equipment and logistics – an airplane, a bulldozer, makeshift lodges and hangars. Two guns and three boats with 5000 liters of fuel were seized, and a helicopter hidden in the forest foliaze was discovered and set ablaze.
By destroying the miner’s critical logistics, they are disrupting their current operations. Ibama officials then set up a checkpoint next to a Yanomami village on the Uraicoera River to set up a blockade – and interrupt the miner’s supply chain beyond that point. No more boats carrying fuel and equipment will be allowed to go past the blockade.
All cargo that they have found from seized vehicles, alongside other communication and operational equipment radios, generators, and freezers – is being used by the federal agents to strengthen the blockade for themselves.
According to Associated Press, The number of supplies that the authorities found upriver, clearly indicates that the miners did not care much for President Lula’s promise to expel them – it was business as usual, and they expected no serious operation. Few miners still don’t see the blockade as much of a threat.
However, the blockade seems to have changed things – quite a lot of miners have felt that they should retreat to the state capital, Boa Vista. AP reporters found a makeshift port, that is a little off-route from any major village or town. Here, hordes of miners are arriving over the course of the day, some often walking for days in the forest, in order to reach the city.
Who are the miners? The gold miners themselves come from poverty-stricken regions of the country, such as the Maranhao state in the Northeast. They cross the Amazon with nothing more than some food to sustain themselves, some bare necessities, and personal belongings – often wearing nothing more than flip-flops. They sleep in hammocks in campsites and succumb to diseases and other life risks.
But they do not mine for themselves. Their mining is dependent on sophisticated logistics, which is backed by investors outside the forest. The logistics of the mining operation have been the most difficult challenge for the Brazilian authorities, as the illicit miners operated using clandestine airstrips, light planes with modified tail numbers, shell companies, and discrete communication mechanisms.
The ongoing operation in Brazil is crucial for the larger stake of Amazon preservation, in its entirely natural and cultural heritage terms. Sarah Shenker, the head of the non-profit Survival International stated the importance of the operation,
“It is absolutely vital that the authorities get the miners, and keep them out. They have blighted the Yanomami lives for far too long and have caused untold misery and destruction.”
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