‘I prefer to live in the community’, says Yanomami who sought care at Indigenous Support House

Gabriel Abreu – From Cenarium Magazine

BOA VISTA – “I prefer to live in the community than in the city”, summarized Márcia Yanomami, who is being treated for pneumonia and malnutrition at the Indigenous Support House (Casai), in the rural area of Boa Vista. The place has room for 300 indigenous people, but is operating over capacity, with 400 more patients, due to the humanitarian crisis that devastates the Yanomami.

“We have been here in the city for a month, and only now have we been able to get treatment at the field hospital”, says Marcia. When asked whether she prefers living in the city or in the Surucucu community, where she lives, she answers very objectively. “I prefer to live in the community than in the city, there we have more space and more food, here there is little and we have freedom”, she declared.

On the BR-174 highway (Manaus-Boa Vista), the indigenous women who walk with children in their laps still show concern. There are reports of run over and, to avoid accidents, a speed camera was placed at the entrance of the branch that gives access to the Casai.

The Yanomami usually move along the road in large groups in search of food. At different times of the day, the report caught dozens of Yanomami and other indigenous people walking on foot along the BR-174.

Indígena Yanomami com o filho (Ricardo Oliveira/Revista Cenarium)

Casa de Apoio Indígena (Casai) (Ricardo Oliveira/Revista Cenarium)

Ricardo Oliveria/Cenarium Magazine

New shelter

Due to the great demand of indigenous people in the city, on Friday, 3, the governor of Roraima, Antonio Denarium (Progressistas), announced the installation of a shelter for the Yanomami. The structure should be inaugurated in the next 30 days, with shared management with the Special Indigenous Health District Yanomami (DSEI-Y). The care at the site will be developed through a partnership between state agencies and the Union.

“I was in a meeting with the ministers and I reaffirmed my commitment to Roraima and to Brazil. We are making the structure of the public administration of the state available in support of the federal government to join forces and remedy the serious crisis faced by the Yanomami population. It will be a joint and coordinated effort”, declared the governor after meeting with the Chief of Staff Minister, Rui Costa, and the Minister of Institutional Relations, Alexandre Padilha, in Brasilia.

The shelter will be installed on a site owned by the state government, about 200 meters from the Casai Yanomami, where a Brazilian Air Force (FAB) Campaign Hospital has also been installed. The main building will have around 500 square meters and an annex block, which will function as an administration center, infirmary and for the collection of exams.

Humanitarian crisis

The Yanomami indigenous people are currently facing an unprecedented humanitarian crisis due to the invasion of illegal mining. An estimated 20,000 miners are operating in Brazil’s largest indigenous reserve, covering more than 9.6 million hectares of forest. The Yanomami are seeing their territory being destroyed, and children and babies are suffering the most from the impacts of the activity in the region.

The Ministry of Indigenous Peoples reported that 570 Yanomami, between 2019 and 2022, will die from mercury contamination, malnutrition, and hunger because of the impact of illegal mining activities on Yanomami Indigenous Land.

Severe Measures

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signed a decree providing for measures to confront the public health emergency and combat illegal mining in Yanomami territory. Among the actions planned to be taken by federal administration agencies is the creation of an Air Defense Identification Zone (Zida) over the territory’s airspace – a measure that will be enforced while the Public Health Emergency of National Importance is in effect.

In recent speeches, Lula had already anticipated the decision to adopt severe measures to protect indigenous territory and to combat illegal mining in Yanomami territory.

“We decided to take the decision to stop this game. There will be no more mining, no more overflying, and no more fuel supplies”, stated the president during an event at the Planalto Palace.