To combat illegal mining in the Yanomami Indigenous Land, in Roraima, and provide assistance to the indigenous people, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) determined today that air and river traffic in the region be interrupted.
The decision was taken by Lula after a meeting with six government ministers, the president of the National Indigenous Foundation (Funai), Joenia Wapichana, and Brigadier Marcelo Damasceno, commander of the Air Force.
The government team included ministers Sônia Guajajara (Indigenous Peoples), Flávio Dino (Justice), Silvio Almeida (Human Rights), José Múcio (Defense), Alexandre Padilha (Institutional Relations) and Rui Costa (Civil Staff).
In a press release, the Presidency of the Republic explained the decision. “The initiatives aim to combat, as quickly as possible, illegal mining and other criminal activities in the region, preventing air and river transport that supplies criminal groups.”
“The actions also aim to prevent the access of people not authorized by the government to the region, seeking not only to prevent illegal activities, but also the spread of diseases”, he concluded.
Earlier, Lula had already determined the creation of a working group to study and propose actions to combat illegal mining in indigenous lands. The technical team will have 60 days to present a project to the president.
The creation of the working group was determined by an ordinance published in the Official Gazette of the Union by Minister Flávio Dino. “Considering the practices of crimes and the very serious violations of fundamental rights caused by illegal mining in indigenous lands in the Amazon region, including the news of malnutrition and hunger that caused about 570 preventable deaths of indigenous Yanomami children (Roraima), in the last 4 years.”
Editing: Thalita Pires
