In mid-January, the President of Brazil, Lula da Silva, blamed former President Jair Bolsonaro for the massacre of the Yanomami, an indigenous people who live deep in the Amazon rainforest. The Yanomami are a people who live inside the Amazon rainforest bordering Venezuela and Brazil. Malnutrition and other diseases have caused widespread death among Brazil’s Yanomami, an indigenous tribe of people. Since the 1980s, this section has been completely isolated. It was at that time that gold deposits were found in the areas of forests where those primitive tribes lived. In the four decades since, almost 40,000 illegal mining operations have taken place in the region. Due to the spread of mercury used during gold mining operations, the rivers were polluted and tuberculosis (TB) and malaria were spread among the local population. On January 20, the Brazilian Ministry of Health declared a health emergency in the region. During Bolsonaro’s four years as president, an estimated 500 children died in the region due to malnutrition and epidemics.
During this period, Bolsonaro allegedly did not pay attention to controlling illegal mining activities and solving the health and humanitarian problems caused by it. A number of studies since the 1990s have found that it has created a reverse health crisis among the region’s 3,000 population. Studies have shown that gold mining causes tuberculosis, malaria, mercury poisoning and malnutrition. A number of different studies have been published on each issue. TB was first reported among local residents in 1965. Later in the 1970s, a few more cases of the disease were confirmed. But it only began to spread like an epidemic in the region after gold mining began in 1997, according to a 1997 report published by PNAS, a media led by Brazilian researchers. The same is true of malaria. Between 2016 and 2020, gold mining activities in the region have increased dramatically. During the same period, the increase in malaria cases in the population centers increased to 1090 percent. In mining areas it was 7576 per cent. Mercury used in mining activities has polluted the air and water in all areas where local people depend for their livelihoods such as fishing and hunting.
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Another study published by Busta in May 2019 explained that the Yanomami community has the highest number of children facing nutritional problems among indigenous people in the Americas. Stunting, underweight, and physical fatigue were all common among children. Even fish in mercury polluted rivers die. So river water cannot be used. The water collected by walking into the forest where there are no mining activities is made for drinking. In many parts of the region, mining activity disrupts and destroys the food chain of local people. The mafia operates under the belief that the land of the indigenous Yanomami people is theirs to roam and exploit freely.
The Bolsonaro administration was not willing to manage them and address the humanitarian problems of the indigenous population. Christina Haverkamp, who has done research on human rights in the area, says that the mining mafia runs rampant because of this. They add that there has been a kind of invasion since the mining mafia arrived in the area 30 years ago. Despite such serious environmental and health problems, the government has failed to address them or make arrangements to address the health problems of the local population. It is in this context that Lula da Silva, who has just taken power, has taken the problems of the Yanomami people as the first priority. Lula da Silva has stated that he will take strict measures to control mining activities in the area. Indeed, Lula da Silva has declared a commitment to the unacceptable destruction of the Amazon rainforest and the natives and indigenous tribes that live there.
