Mhe cruel double murder of the British journalist Dom Phillips and the Brazilian indigenous activist Bruno Pereira, who had worked to protect the indigenous population in the rainforest, made it clear to the whole world what is happening in the Amazon region – and has been happening ever since by the right-wing Brazilian government: Violence against the indigenous people and their supporters continues to increase. This can be observed particularly dramatically in the region in the Brazilian-Venezuelan border area in the north, where the largest and most original indigenous group in the Amazon region, the Yanomami, live. In a detailed report recently published by the aid organization Hutukara, indigenous researchers document the increasing, often deadly confrontation of the indigenous people with gold diggers and tin stone exploiters.

The “territory of the indigenous Yanomami” (Terra Indigena Yanomami) has actually been protected from access by settlers, loggers and raw material suppliers by government decree for thirty years.

Threat of infectious diseases

However, with the arrival of the Bolsonaro government in Brazil and the announcement by the President that he intends to make greater use of his own resources and thus also of the rainforests, the remote habitat of the Yanomani has also become the focus of the profiteers. The Yanomani under Attack report, which brings together observations from satellite data and drone overflights and patrols, reports a 3,350 percent increase in mine areas since 2016. Almost 3,300 hectares of rainforest have been cleared along the rivers to make room for the illegal digging. The largest increase was registered last year: plus 46 percent.

However, it is less the direct damage to the rainforest than the threat to the indigenous people from diseases. Infectious diseases, especially malaria, have spread everywhere in the Yanomami region, and violence against hunting and protesting indigenous people has increased rapidly. Covid-19 had also reached the Yanomami people in March, a few weeks after the first official cases in Brazil. A fifteen-year-old boy who wanted to drive away gold diggers with other youngsters contracted the disease, fell ill and soon died in a hospital in the nearby city of Boa Vista.

At least 273 Yanomami communities – 56 percent of the entire tribal population – are directly and indirectly affected by the illegal mine operators’ attacks. An estimated 20,000 illegal gold diggers have spread to new regions in Yanomami territory. And that despite the fact that the state forest police was repeatedly alerted and then had to move out. Along the Uraricoera River, the gold and tin diggers have formed veritable networks for the replenishment of food and fuel, they warn each other via satellite Internet and WhatsApp connections and use helicopters and small airplanes.

When federal police arrived at the gold mine known as “Fofoca de Cavalo” in March, they found nearly two thousand people setting up shops, bars and even a dentist in Yanomami land. In the Palimiu region, where violence escalated in April and May 2021, weeks of violent clashes broke out between indigenous people and their helpers and illegal gold diggers funded by businessmen. The police then confiscated 35 vehicles and boats, a dozen generators, four and a half thousand liters of diesel and eight pounds of highly toxic methylmercury used for gold mining. The pollution of the rivers and the soil with the toxic heavy metal also threatens the health of the jungle people.

According to the report, the fact that the mines are not the illegal activities of a few, but obviously organized and well-financed exploiters, is shown by the sporadic police actions, which are often only initiated after clear evidence has been presented: The dug gold diggers then often come days or Weeks later, back to the same spot with new equipment, according to drone footage of the area. Because of the laws passed in the wake of the corona pandemic, the authorities have been forced to take stronger action against intruders since 2021. In fact, there were more raids. However, without any significant effect.

The number of gold diggers continued to increase. “These are continued serious human rights abuses in the Yamomami area,” the new report said. The control authorities and police stations are hopelessly overwhelmed, understaffed, too far away and poorly equipped. The Yanomami aid organizations are expecting more support from the Brazilian state and the establishment of strategic base stations to deter the hunters for raw materials and precious metals. However, they do not seem to have much hope that the government will react.