At least one indigenous person died and two others were seriously injured in Brazil after a shooting attack by illegal miners on Yanomami indigenous land, in the state of Roraima (north), The government reported this Sunday.
“It is with great regret that we learned of the shooting attack by illegal miners against three Yanomami indigenous people. One died and two others are receiving care, in serious condition,” reported the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples (MPI) on its official Instagram account.
The government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva launched an operation by the armed forces and police in February to expel thousands of miners illegally occupying the Yanomami indigenous reserve in the Amazon, located on the border with Venezuela, where gold prospectors are accused of sparking a humanitarian crisis.
The MPI reported that a delegation “inter-ministerial” he was on his way to Roraima “to further reinforce the expulsion actions” and requested an investigation by the Federal Police (PF) into the case.
The attack occurred on Saturday afternoon and the deceased indigenous person, who would have been shot in the head, He was 36 years old, according to the G1 news portal.
Consulted by AFP, the PF did not immediately respond to questions about the circumstances of the attack.
“The situation of invaders in the Yanomami indigenous land has been going on for many years. Even with all the efforts made by the federal government, there are still many coordinated actions for the withdrawal of all invaders,” the ministry added.
Indigenous leaders claim that the miners have contaminated river water with mercury, destroyed the jungle, raped and murdered members of their community, in addition to triggering a food crisis that is devastating the 30,000 Yanomami in the area.
Federal Police opened in January an investigation for possible “genocide” against the Yanomami after the publication of an official report that gave an account of the death last year of a hundred children under the age of five, some of them due to malnutrition.
In addition to launching the operation on Yanomami land, Lula, who returned to power in Januaryresumed this week the demarcation of indigenous lands pending recognition, one of the main claims of the original peoples, which had been paralyzed during the term of the far-right Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022).
