YANOMAMI INDIGENOUS LAND (RR)
Easily visible to anyone crossing the skies of Yanomami territory, in Roraima, a landing and take-off strip suspected of serving illegal mining houses nine small planes, arranged side by side, very close to illegal gold exploration in the largest land indigenous to the world Brazil. The region borders Venezuela and the coordinates indicate the presence of an airstrip 5 km away in the neighboring country.
In the “Rangel mine”, in Brazilian territory, ships with miners travel without discomfort through the dirty and muddy waters of the Couto Magalhães river. It is late afternoon on Wednesday (10th), and even the boats circulate calmly along the Mucajaí river, which is filthy.
Garimpos and mining scars appear to swallow up longhouses, small villages and an airstrip that once served indigenous healthcare, in the Homoxi and Xitei regions. Rivers, such as the Uraricoera, have once again acquired the soft appearance that is characteristic of predatory and illegal gold exploration.
Everything is seen from above, from the window of one of the three small planes used by the delegation of ministers from Lula’s government (PT) visiting the Auaris region, the furthest from the land of the Yanomami, on the border with Venezuela. Folha followed the visit.
Mining activity has resumed in strategic points of the territory. A 20-minute flight from the PEF (Special Border Platoon) of the Auaris Army, where the planes of the delegation of ministers landed, two strategic points for the logistics of illegal gold are in full swing.
Maurício Ye’kwana, director of the Hutukara Yanomami Association, presented a detailed report to ministers Sônia Guajajara (Indigenous Peoples), Marina Silva (Environment and Climate Change) and Silvio Almeida (Human Rights), within the central space of the village of Fuduuwaadunha, of the Ye’kwana, also in Yanomami land.
“There is a large flow of planes and helicopters in the two logistical points. There are 17 planes, which feed the mines of Parima, Homoxi, Xitei,” Maurício said. Davi Kopenawa, who heads Hutukara, summed up the resumption of mining activity in his territory thus, in an irritated tone while addressing the ministers: “They are like termites. Half of them are gone. The criminals remain.”
In the case of the landing strip with nine planes, the Brazilian government had even planned to destroy the plane, but reportedly discovered that the runway was on the Venezuelan side.
The reactivation of mining activity is fueling the humanitarian crisis for the Yanomami, influencing access to food and subsequent malaria epidemics in the territory. The malnutrition of Yanomami children is as visible as the exploitation of gold, and is directly proportional.
Auaris is today one of the main hotbeds of the health crisis. Access to communities is via two-hour flights, making care and removal difficult; mining has expanded in the region, without repression from inspectors, security bodies and the Armed Forces; there is the co-optation of indigenous adults, which impacts production in the fields.
It is common for children to be malnourished and at the same time suffer from malaria, in addition to the high incidence of opportunistic diseases linked to hunger: pneumonia, diarrhoea, anemia, worms.
Health workers believe that all Yanomami in the Auaris region will have had malaria during 2023. There are 4,000 indigenous people. Until November, according to data from the COE (Emergency Operations Center) Yanomami, connected to the Ministry of Health, the positive cases reported from the health base were 6,917, and in no other region was so much malaria recorded as there.
In the early afternoon of last Wednesday, seven children were hospitalized at the basic center for malnutrition: four severe cases and three moderate cases.
The children and their mothers stay in a shed where there is a hammock. Patients are given food supplements via syringe in an attempt to gain weight so as to avoid airlift to Boa Vista Children’s Hospital. In 2023, there were more than a thousand visits to the health unit.
A child admitted to the Auaris health unit, aged between 12 and 13 years, weighed 10 kg. The most serious cases concern the Sanumá indigenous people, a Yanomami subgroup present mainly in Auaris.
Health workers who care for these patients say the families have lost the habit of farming. They depend on basic food baskets distributed by Funai (National Foundation for Indigenous Peoples).
In the baskets are rice, flour, milk, dried meat, canned sardines, meat paçoca and a processed corn product, according to indigenous health agents. The diet of the Sanumá, before their dependence on baskets, included beyju, bananas, fish, and wild pig, deer, and monkey. According to a health agent, today there is almost no hunting or fishing anymore.
At Casai (Indigenous Health Home) Yanomami, in Boa Vista, one of the main flows of indigenous people comes from the Auaris region. The space should only be a reception and transit house, but provides medical care and hospitalization.
When President Lula (PT) went to Boa Vista to announce the emergency health measures in the first month of his third term, he turned to Casai and said that the overcrowding there was unacceptable. On January 20, 2023, a health emergency was declared in Yanomami land.
The space still has more people than existing vacancies. As of Tuesday (9th), there were 276 patients and 310 companions, for a total of 586 indigenous people. Casai’s capacity is 442 nets and 16 beds. At the height of the humanitarian crisis, nearly 900 Yanomami remained in Casai, some for months, without returning to their traditional territory.
The sheds are structured to house the indigenous people, divided by region. The one in Auaris was one of the busiest on Tuesday, when the journalist visited the place.
“Mining came back with a force, and with that, malaria also came back with a force,” says gynecologist Ana Paula Pina, who works at the DSEI (Special Indigenous Health District) Yanomami. “There are chronically malnourished mothers. And most of the hospital admissions concern malnourished children suffering from malaria.”
In the Auaris base center, health workers have difficulty administering food supplements in cases of malnutrition. Nonetheless, the seven malnourished children would not need to be transferred to Boa Vista, according to the diagnosis made on the day of the ministers’ visit.
According to reports from leaders in the region, it is common for indigenous people on the Venezuelan side to turn to the Auaris health unit, mainly due to malaria. According to the leaders, the flow amounts to 80-100 indigenous people.
“We are very aware of it [a crise] It’s not over, we are far from the liberation of the territory”, said Minister Sônia Guajajara, on the occasion of the meeting with the leaders in Auaris. “We know that there are invaders, that what remains is the criminal part”.
Marina Silva said the government wants “transparency and reality” and not “self-deception”. “The president’s message is to resolve the situation.” Silvio Almeida said something similar: “We are fully aware that, despite the work, it was still not enough.”
On Tuesday, after a ministerial meeting called by the president, the federal government announced the presence of a “government house” in Roraima to manage actions in the Yanomami territory and the installation of three surveillance bases in the territory, with security forces such as PF (Federal Police) and Armed Forces. The expected expenses amount to R$ 1.2 billion.
Lula seemed uncomfortable with the health data. The COE’s most recent report shows that 308 Yanomami – or indigenous people from other subgroups in the region – died in 2023. The data includes records up to November 30. More than half of the deaths involve children up to 4 years old. The main causes of death include pneumonia, diarrhea, malaria and malnutrition.
Mining warnings indicate an 80% reduction throughout the year, but satellite images can mask the return of invaders to already open areas. And this, according to the inspection officers, is happening.
These agents estimate that approximately 3,000 invaders remain on indigenous lands, nearly a year after the start of deintrusion actions – the removal of non-indigenous populations. There were around 20 thousand of them at the height of the crisis, encouraged by the government of Jair Bolsonaro (PL).
With the increased presence of health teams in the region, the numbers are closer to reality than those compiled during the Bolsonaro government, when there was a significant undercount. But the teams continue without entering the communities closest to the mine sites, due to the risks to health work.
In the Kayanaú region the health center remains closed. Mining activity has intensified in the area. The Brazilian government does not know the fate and health conditions of the more than 300 Yanomami who lived in five villages in the region.
2024-01-14 02:15:00
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