The governor of Roraima, Antonio Denarium, announced this Friday (3) the installation of a state shelter to accommodate the Yanomami indigenous people, who are experiencing a health crisis in the state. The commitment is contained in a letter sent by Denarium to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The measure is expected to take effect in the next 30 days and the management of the unit will be shared with the Special Indigenous Health District of the Yanomami (DSEI-Y). Activities on site must be developed in partnership between state agencies and the Union. 
“I was in a meeting with the ministers and I reaffirm the commitment with Roraima and with Brazil. We are making available the structure of the State’s public administration in support of the Federal Government to join forces and solve the serious crisis faced by the Yanomami population. It will be done jointly and in a coordinated way”, declared the governor, after meeting with the chief minister of the Civil House, Rui Costa, and with the minister of Institutional Relations, Alexandre Padilha, in Brasília.
The shelter will be installed in a place owned by the state government, about 200 meters from the Casa de Saúde Indígena (Casai) Yanomami, where a Field Hospital of the Brazilian Air Force (FAB). According to the Denarium letter sent to Lula, the space will be adapted to receive indigenous people undergoing health treatment, “with an environment following the customs of the ethnic group”. The main building has around 500 square meters and an annex block, which will function as administration, infirmary and collection of exams.
“The state shelter will obey the habits and customs of the ethnic group, without any damage to the secular culture of the Yanomami and will operate during the period of validity of the Yanomami health emergency decree, with facilities that are located next to the Casai, thus improving the quality of the indigenous people welcomed by the institution”, says an excerpt from the letter.
Public management of the space will be the responsibility of the Special Secretariat for Indigenous Health (Sesai), of the Ministry of Health, with support from the State Health Secretariat and the Labor and Social Welfare Secretariat (Setrabes).
lack of assistance
Documents obtained by Brazil Agency confirm that, at least since 2021, the federal government knew that Yanomami Indians were suffering from a lack of food. Even so, it failed to respond to requests from the Civil Defense of Roraima, which, at the time, expressed its intention to collaborate in assisting communities in the Yanomami Indigenous Land, which is a federal responsibility.
In the letter sent to Lula, the governor of Roraima mentioned social assistance programs aimed at indigenous people, such as the Cesta da Família Program, a state income transfer, which serves 11,000 indigenous families, who receive basic food baskets with 32 items. He also informed that, in the last four years, more than 27,000 consultations and health procedures were carried out for indigenous people in hospital units maintained by the state government.
