Brazil: The Yanomami genocide has the traces of Bolsonaro | Opinion

The result of four years in the laboratory of the extreme right in Brazil emerges in the form of infant bodies. Since January 20, when it came to light that at least 570 indigenous children of the Yanomami people had died of preventable causes, Brazil and the world have watched in horror at the images of the emaciated bodies being rescued in the jungle. The complaint was made by Sumaúma, a journalism platform based in the Amazon that I devised with a small group of experienced journalists. Immediately, Lula da Silva took a part of his Ministry to the region, the Supreme Federal Court determined that an investigation be opened to the authorities of the Government of Jair Bolsonaro for genocide and, in just two days, on the 22nd and 23rd of In January, nearly 20,000 health workers volunteered to help public health rescue the hungry, malnourished, sick and nearly dead Yanomami.

The grisly scenes are a lesson to the world: the extreme right installed itself in the Brazilian government from 2018 to 2021 through a democratic process, after years of eloquent signals that were ignored; with the support of the Armed Forces, which for four years flirted with a coup without being bothered by those who had the duty to enforce the Constitution; with the support of a significant part of the national business community and Brazilian elites; and defended by a horde of armed fanatics who carried out a series of crimes until they finally attempted a coup d'état on January 8, after spending months fraternizing happily and with impunity in front of the Army headquarters.

That the Yanomami were experiencing a humanitarian catastrophe was already known, what was unknown was the dimension. In September of last year, the journalist Talita Bedinelli had already revealed that children died vomiting worms for lack of vermifuges. In the same report, she showed that Yanomami girls suffered gang rapes. Starving, they prostitute themselves in exchange for rice or sausages. Its territory, invaded by thousands of illegal miners in search of gold, encouraged by Bolsonaro, was disfigured: rivers polluted with mercury, orchards destroyed, and hunger and disease spreading. Still, Bolsonaro nearly won the presidential election, and in that case, how many thousands of Yanomami would have continued to die of hunger, malaria, and other diseases in the jungle?