Brazil president Lula orders crack down on suppliers of illegal miners in Yanomami

• Illegal gold miners have created a humanitarian catastrophe in northern Brazil.
• About 20,000 wildcat gold miners are causing starvation and sickness.
• Lula orders to prohibit planes and river transport from delivering supplies to the miners.

In an effort to drive out the wildcat miners who have created a humanitarian catastrophe among the local indigenous population, the president of Brazil Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva declared on Monday that he will crack down on the shipment of supplies to illegal gold miners in the Yanomami reservation in northern Brazil.

President Lula da Silva ordered many steps to combat illegal mining and other criminal activity in the area after meeting with ministers, the government said in a statement.

This, it claimed, included directing the administration to prohibit planes and river transport from delivering supplies to the wildcat miners.

“The actions also aim to prevent the access of people not authorized by the public authorities to the region, to prevent illegal activities and the spread of diseases,” it added.

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The Yanomami people, who reside on Brazil’s largest indigenous reservation close to the Venezuelan border, depending on the rivers and fish they catch for food and water. The contamination of these resources by about 20,000 wildcat gold miners is causing starvation and sickness.

The miners cruise up the rivers in speedboats and land their light aircraft on covert airstrips.

According to the statement, Lula also decreed that the Yanomami should have immediate access to drinking water, nutritional support, and medical care.

On Monday morning, the mining lobby Ibram urged the government to take action to stop illegal gold mining and dismantle the network that launders the metal, which is frequently sold to foreign jewelers.

Illegal miners have long invaded Yanomami Territory, but once former President Jair Bolsonaro took office in 2019, he promised to permit mining on previously protected indigenous territories, the intrusions were more frequent.

A separate investigation to ascertain the role played by the Brazilian government in the Yanomami people’s dilemma was announced by the public prosecutor’s office on Monday.

Numerous pieces of evidence, according to the agency, incriminate the previous administration and portray “a clear picture of widespread lack of healthcare, systematic failure to comply with court orders… and repeated actions by state agents that encouraged violations of (Yanomami people).”

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