Brazil investigates the “genocide” of the Yanomami indigenous people

First modification: 01/24/2023 – 22:20

“Yesterday I decided to open a new police investigation into a possible genocide,” Justice Minister Flavio Dino told ” Brasil” on Tuesday, January 24. It will focus on the Yanomami indigenous territory, isolated in the middle of the Brazilian rainforest, where the Ministry of Health recorded the death of 99 children under the age of five in 2022.

“We believe that there are very strong indications of a denial of food and health assistance to these indigenous populations,” he added.

Causes of death include pneumonia, diarrhea, and gastroenteritis, probably of infectious origin, as well as hemorrhage or severe malnutrition.

The investigation, which targets public officials and the health sector in the indigenous territory, will also examine accusations of crimes against the environment and embezzlement of public resources.

‘Lula’, “shocked” by what he saw in Yanomami territory

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio ‘Lula’ da Silva, who took office on January 1, had visited Boa Vista, in the northern state of Roraima, where part of Yanomami territory is located, on January 21.

“What I saw shocked me,” he said, referring to “inhuman” scenes while reporting on his visit.

Some 30,400 indigenous people live on the lands of the Yanomami, which extend through the states of Roraima and Amazonas, but also through neighboring Venezuela.

The inhabitants of these lands, supposedly inviolable and in which all mining exploitation is prohibited, have difficulties to feed themselves due to the destruction of the tropical forest in which they normally find their livelihood.

According to the Yanomami leaders, some 20,000 illegal miners have invaded their territory, killing indigenous people, sexually abusing women and adolescents, and polluting their rivers with mercury to separate the gold from the sediment.

with AFP