‘What are we going to celebrate?’, asks indigenous leader on the 30th anniversary of the demarcation of the Yanomami Indigenous Territories

No requerimento, feito pelo senador Humberto Costa (PT-PE), a diligência será realizada para "apurar rigorosamente" os casos de violência contra os Yanomami (Reprodução)

Fábio Leite – Cenarium Magazine

MANAUS – Little has to celebrate the indigenous people Yanomami on the day that the demarcation of their land completes 30 years, this Wednesday, 25. Constantly threatened by the devastation of the forest and now by the action of illegal mining, the original people struggle to survive and resist in the protection of the largest indigenous reserve in the country.

There are more than 28 thousand Yanomami, from approximately 370 communities who struggle to protect against the 30 thousand miners who are engaged in illegal activities that cause damage to the environment in an area of 10 million hectares located in a region that encompasses five municipalities in the state of Roraima and two in the Amazon.

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There are constant reports of cases of aggression, deaths, conflicts, and sexual violence committed by miners against the Yanomami people. There is nothing to celebrate this year, assures the president of the District Council of Indigenous Health Yanomami and Yek’wana (Condisi-YY), Junior Hekurari Yanomami.

“We are completing 30 years of Yanomami Indigenous Land (IT) and what are we going to celebrate? There is nothing to celebrate. We have no protection from the federal government on Yanomami Indigenous Land. We have had no response from the government to see the reality of the Brazilians who are suffering in the Yanomami Indigenous Land. We want these miners to be urgently removed from the indigenous land so that we can reorganize the communities,” he said.

Environmental Chaos

What we see today was repeated in the year of the demarcation decree of the indigenous land, in 1992, an invasion of more than 40,000 miners on the land in a gold rush. In the same year, Brazil hosted the United Nations’ environmental conference, Eco-92, and the granting of exclusive right to use Yanomami land enforced the Federal Constitution and was a demonstration of strength before the world.

The report “Yanomami under Attack”, released by the Hutukara Associação Yanomami (HAY), reports that illegal mining has advanced 46% on indigenous land, causing the most devastation in 30 years since the demarcation of the land. The degradation in 2021 was 3,272 hectares, compared to 2,234 in 2020. Of the 37 health centers on Yanomami land, 18 have records of deforestation related to mining.

With articles published recently by the scientific journal Science, biologist Lucas Ferrante states that “it is urgent that the Brazilian government remove the invaders from the Yanomami Indigenous Lands”, because these “are crucial for the conservation of the Amazon, of biodiversity, of ecosystem services, and these people need to be protected, because they are guardians of a fundamental part for the conservation of the Amazon”.

For environmentalist Carlos Durigan, the action that the original people have been suffering without the support of the federal government to reverse the current situation is “unacceptable”. Durigan also states that the Yanomami face threats to “their territory, their way of living and producing” and speaks of the aggravating factor of the use of mercury in illegal mining.

“Mercury has the power of systemic contamination, besides contaminating water and sediments, it also enters the food chain and mercury ends up being a source of contamination in these rivers with altered dynamics and this ends up contaminating the people who consume the water and fish from these rivers and streams, creating a very serious problem for the Yanomami population,” explained the environmentalist.

Yanomami festival

A celebration to mark the 30th anniversary of the demarcation of the Yanomami Indigenous Land with the participation of indigenous leaders is being held since Sunday, 22, and is expected to end this Thursday, 26. Approximately 900 people are gathered to celebrate the date in the Xihobi Community, in Amazonas, including the participation of environmentalist and indigenous leader Ailton Krenak and missionary Carlo Zacquini.

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