1000 seriously ill Yanomami
Suspicion of genocide against the former Bolsonaro government
01/26/2023 02:22 AM
Dozens of Yanomami children are said to have died of malnutrition in Brazil in recent years. In the past few days, more than 1,000 seriously ill people have been brought out of the Aboriginal area. The authorities are targeting the former Jair Bolsonaro government.
Faced with a humanitarian crisis among the indigenous people of the Yanomami, Brazil’s Federal Police has launched an investigation into allegations of genocide, environmental crimes, and failure to provide assistance, among other things. According to a police statement, the investigation was initiated by order of the Ministry of Justice. Accordingly, it must be ascertained whether members of the government of former President Jair Bolsonaro or illegal gold diggers are responsible for the plight of the Yanomami.
According to the Ministry of Health, more than 1,000 Yanomami with serious health problems such as malnutrition and malaria have been transferred from the home area and treated in the past few days. The current government under Bolsonaro’s successor Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva had previously declared a health emergency among the Yanomami. With nearly ten million hectares, their lands in the states of Roraima and Amazonas are one of the largest indigenous protected areas in Brazil. More than 30,000 Yanomami live there.
Former President Bolsonaro advocated the exploitation of the Amazon and wanted to allow gold mining in indigenous areas. Gold prospectors use mercury to mine gold, polluting the water in the process. According to the news agency Agência Brasil, 570 Yanomami children have died as a result of malnutrition in recent years.
Lula announced new policies and measures against malnutrition and dismissed 54 officials from the Funai Aboriginal Department and the Ministry of Health after a trip to visit Aboriginal people.
