They demand to investigate lethal attack against indigenous people in Brazil | News

The Minister of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil, Sonia Guajajara, demanded on Sunday a police investigation to clarify the attack by illegal miners on a Yanomami indigenous settlement that left one dead and two injured, local media reported.

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The attack was perpetrated last Saturday against the Uxiú community and claimed the life of a native health agent from the Yanomami people. The other injured natives were taken to health centers in the town of Surucucu by professionals from the Yanomami Special Indigenous Health District.

The incident was denounced by Júnior Hekurari Yanomami, president of the District Council of Indigenous Health, and blamed the illegal miners who search for precious metals in the area of ​​shooting against the Yanomami indigenous people.

Júnior became known at the beginning of the year, when he denounced the serious humanitarian crisis that the Yanomami people are going through due to the onslaught of illegal miners and loggers bent on plundering the natural resources located within the native territory.

Minister Guajajara also alluded to the historic dismantling of indigenous protection policies and the promotion of illegal mining that affects traditional peoples, a scenario that worsened especially between 2019 and 2022, during the government of Jair Bolsonaro.

After coming to power at the beginning of January 2023, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva implemented a series of actions to help local indigenous communities and withdraw non-indigenous from exclusive areas, as well as the protection of their natural resources and your safety.

According to official figures, the Yanomami Indigenous Land covers a large area of ​​Roraima, as well as a part of the state of Amazonas, totaling about 9.6 million hectares, where, according to the federal government, more than 30,000 inhabitants live.

The Brazilian Ministry of Health has denounced that, in recent years, at least 570 indigenous children have died from malnutrition and other preventable causes. Furthermore, in 2022 alone, 11,530 cases of malaria were confirmed on the reserve. The spread of this reality set off alarm bells and state intervention.

Members of the Brazilian Armed Forces have been mobilized to distribute food and provide medical care to residents of communities that are difficult to access. Likewise, air traffic, access to protected areas and the transfer of non-natives were restricted.

The Aeronautics began to restrict air access, seeking to prevent the arrival of new miners and, mainly, the supply of those who were illegally in the area. In addition, ground security forces were reinforced to remove non-indigenous people from the reservation.

The Federal Police collected expert evidence of the crimes committed against the indigenous people, interviewed witnesses, investigated the crime scene and is awaiting the respective specialized reports to continue the investigations.

The police authorities affirmed that they are working to "identify, locate and detain" the perpetrators and continue actions to locate and expel the invaders found in indigenous territories, as part of Operation Liberation, which has been underway since last February.