The Armed Forces destroyed last Wednesday (18) the first airstrip inside the Yanomami Land, used to supply illegal mining. The action carried out in the Surucucu region marks the beginning of another focus of work by the federal government in the fight against illegal mining.
By demolishing this infrastructure, the government is seeking to interrupt the main supply routes for miners, making it difficult to access remote areas where illegal activities take place. In addition to this runway, 44 others have already been destroyed between March and September of this year, located around the Yanomami Indigenous Territory.
These clandestine routes have been mapped through reconnaissance overflights, satellite imagery and advanced technology provided by the Management and Operations Center of the Amazon Protection System (Censipam), which identifies mining operations within the territory. The SABER M60 radar, developed by the Army, also helped identify the location of this illegal access route.
Based on the analysis of the images and the collection of intelligence data from the Armed Forces, the information was sent to the Government House, which coordinated the operation together with the military. The destruction of clandestine airstrips is essential to disrupt the logistics of the miners and discourage the opening of new areas inside and outside the Yanomami Land.
“The destruction of runways has a significant impact on mining logistics,” said Nilton Tubino, advisor to the General Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic. He assessed that, without these air access routes, miners will face much more difficulty in continuing their activities, which could discourage them from remaining in the indigenous area.
Monitoring
The federal government has been monitoring other clandestine airstrips and expects new actions to be carried out soon as part of the plan to remove the Yanomami from the land. Continuous monitoring, supported by advanced technologies, is one of the pillars for the success of this strategy.
Balance
Between March and September 2024, the government intensified its operations, causing losses estimated at R$209 million to miners. During this period, 1,812 operations were carried out, which resulted in the destruction of 20 aircraft, 96 antennas Starlink45 landing strips, 11 quad bikes, 761 engines, 86,560 tons of cassiterite, 239 generators, 298 clandestine camps and 93,854 liters of diesel oil.
