Brazil - February 2023

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s incoming government has launched an operation to expel illegal miners from land in the Amazon near the border with Venezuela, where the Yanomami people live. While illegal mining has taken place for decades in Indigenous territories, it intensified during former President Bolsonaro’s government, as he expressly backed the exploitation of mineral resources from these lands. Illegal mining has also impacted the health and food supply of the Yanomami people, while mercury derived from mining has polluted their water. Lula da Silva has announced his government’s commitment to address disease, hunger, and malnourishment among the community and declared a health emergency in late January, having visited the region and describing the situation as genocide. The Justice Ministry has ordered a federal investigation into possible crimes against the Yanomami people by Bolsonaro’s administration. Reports from different media and human rights organizations have highlighted the current health crisis that includes pervasive malnutrition and lack of access to medical treatment for diseases such as malaria. Some of such reports have revealed that in the past four years around 570 Yanomami children have died from hunger-related causes. 

Sources: El Pais, The Guardian, British Broadcasting Corporation, Cable News Network, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights