Firefighters locate second body of Yanomami child in Roraima; indigenous people call for justice

Cassandra Castro – from Cenarium

BRASILIA – The Military Fire Department of Roraima reported that located, in the late afternoon of Thursday, 14, the body of the second child drowning victim in the region of Parima, municipality of Alto Alegre, Yanomami Indigenous Land (TI). The first body was located by local people on Wednesday the 13th, before the local search teams arrived.

According to information from the Indigenous Health Council Yanomami and Ye’kuana, the two children disappeared while playing in a river in the region when they were carried away by the current of water. The Indigenous Council was the entity that called the Roraima Military Fire Department.

Read also: Yanomami denounce the death of indigenous children on an illegal mining raft in Roraima

During the plenary session this Thursday, 14, of the House of Representatives, lawmaker Joenia Wapichana (Rede/RR) called for justice in relation to this and other cases reported by the Yanomami people. In a blunt speech, the parliamentarian demanded action from the public authorities. “This is not a situation of who supports or does not support mining, it is a situation of the lives of children. They are human beings, people who have rights according to the Federal Constitution. What is Brazil doing?”, questioned the congresswoman.

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The congresswoman said she will draft a request proposing the creation of an external commission to monitor cases of violence against the Yanomami people. She also mentioned the Climate Conference, COP26, and said that events such as what happened to the Yanomami children help to put Brazil’s image “down if there is no adequate response”.

The Yanomami Indigenous Land, in the region of Alto Alegre, Roraima, is the constant target of the invasion of miners who, besides destroying the environment, also bring diseases and other social evils to the indigenous communities.