Brazil: Diaspora of thousands of illegal miners strains Amazon

exodus of thousands illegal miners The expulsion from indigenous lands by the Yanomami in northern Brazil threatens to exacerbate the cycle of violence and poverty that has plagued other parts of the Amazon for years.

Gold poachers have fled to an unknown destination as a result of a mega operation launched in the state of Roraima by the police and military to end the humanitarian crisis the Yanomami are experiencing.

Images of the children of this ethnic group in a neglected state of malnutrition and with severe symptoms of malaria went around the world and forced the president BrazilLuis Inácio Lula da Silva, in his first weeks as chief executive.

Environmental organizations blame the crisis on nearly 15,000 miners who illegally worked in the reserve and polluted the rivers from which they feed on yanomas, mercury and other toxic products in search of precious metals.

They also accuse current former President Jair Bolsonaro of encouraging them. Lula’s government even ordered an investigation into the administration of the far-right leader (2019-2022) for allegedly committing the crime of genocide.

Now the main question: where to get these thousands illegal miners?

Justice Minister Flavio Dino said on Thursday that only data on the number of miners who voluntarily left the land of the Yanomami will be known next week.

Escape routes through Brazil and Venezuela

Rodrigo Agostinho, president of the Brazilian Institute for the Environment (Ibama), warned that one part headed for Venezuela, which is also home to the Yanomami population.

There are also reports from associations that warn of an increase in irregular mining around Pico de la Neblina, the highest point in Brazil’s geography, at 2995 meters, located in the state of Amazonas.

Intelligence nuclei of the Chico Mendez Institute (ICMBio) are also monitoring the possibility of their movement to other areas. Amazon from Brazil under strong pressure from illegal miningaccording to what Ronilson Vasconcelos, the state environmental organization’s federal environmental agent, told EFE.

Vasconcelos is coordinating a massive operation launched this week to crack down on illegal mining at twelve conservation sites located in the Itaituba region, the main illegal gold market in Brazilin the west of the State of Para.

“We are ready to soften any type of transition. If they come here and intend to continue the crimes they committed on the land of the Yanomami indigenous people, we will not let them,” he said.

Deforestation in this area is extremely high, much of it related to mining.

Between January 1 and February 10 this year, satellites recorded 830 warnings of deforestation within 200 kilometers of Itaituba, 674 of which were related to “garimpo”, as it is known in Brazil to these deposits illegal minersaccording to official data to which EFE had access.

The mining of gold and cassiterite, used to make chips, is facilitated by the local government. Itaituba, for example, has accelerated the issuance of environmental mining licenses in recent days.

“It’s safe to say that there are garimpeiros from the Yanomami reserve who benefit from these licenses,” Marquinho Mota, project coordinator of the Eastern Amazon Forum, told EFE.

Other indigenous peoples on alert

The Itaituba region is also home to indigenous peoples such as the Apiacá and Mundurucu, who are the most threatened by the mining mafia and have denounced the impact of this activity on their lands for 40 years.

“The situation is appalling. We know that many garimpeiros have already left the land of the Yanomami and are on their way to Itaituba,” says Mota.

The story is not new. There was a similar movement when groups illegal miners they left the Madeira River and settled in Tapajos after the construction of the Hirau and Santo Antonio hydroelectric power plants in the state of Rondonia.

“Now it will be the same,” warns Mota, who asks Lula’s government not to let Roraima’s garimpeiros escape because that will be “the end of the Tapajo and Mundurucu people as we know it today.”

But the exodus of miners also poses a huge socio-economic problem for these highly unequal regions, whose economy is driven solely by mining.

Without an alternative plan, the arrival of these thousands of people, along with increased scrutiny by environmental authorities, could lead to a social crisis in these municipalities, fueled by unemployment and poverty.

Fertile ground for organized crime, increasingly present in the Amazon jungle.

(As reported by EFE)

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