Brazil launches operation against illegal gold miners on indigenous land

Brazilian authorities have launched a raid on illegal gold miners who have been illegally operating in mineral-rich territory belonging to the Indigenous Yanomami people, they said on Wednesday.

Armed agents from the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama), along with support from the National Indian Foundation (Funai), began their operations on Monday in the country's northernmost province of Roraima.

The more than 20,000 illegal miners who have occupied the Yanomami reservation — Brazil's biggest with an area comparable to that of Portugal — have brought disease, sexual abuse, and armed violence to the region which is home to one of the most isolated groups in the world.

The miners, many of whom are poor and have to walk for days with just flip-flops and a backpack of food, are involved in gold dredging, often using toxic mercury to separate the gold.

Agents destroy miners' equipment

Ibama said armed forces had set up checkpoints around the region to interrupt the arrival of supplies for the miners. Seized food and equipment will now supply the federal agents manning the blockade.

They said that they had found a helicopter, a plane, and a bulldozer as well as makeshift lodges and hangars. They destroyed them all.

The agents also seized two guns and 5,000 liters (1,320 gallons) of fuel. No further boats carrying fuel or equipment will be allowed to pass the Ibama blockade.

More blockades are set to go up as the operation continues which is expected to last for months — despite reports of many miners fleeing the area into neighboring French Guiana, Suriname, and Guyana ahead of time.

Yanomami suffering starvation and disease

The operation to clear out the miners follows the re-election of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, commonly known as Lula, to the presidency who had made it a pledge after years of encouragement of the illegal activity under his predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro.

The Yanomami are estimated to number around 30,000, many of whom are suffering from malnutrition and diseases such as malaria after years of wildcat mining.

The federal government in Brasilia has declared a public health emergency for the Yanomami people.

Some 700 starving and sick Yanomami people have been taken to a temporary medical facility in the nearby city of Boa Vista — three times the capacity — after miners had raided four health clinics inside their territory.