Documents obtained by Agência Brasil 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. “The state government asked for federal support so that we could reinforce the humanitarian action in indigenous communities isolated by the intense rains of 2021 and also in the Yanomami area”, told the report the coordinator of the Civil Defense of Roraima, Colonel Cleudiomar Alves Ferreira, referring to to the request made in June 2021, through letters sent to the extinct Ministries of Women, Family and Human Rights and Regional Development (MDR) that were, at the time, under the command of Damares Alves and Rogério Marinho. In the documents that Agência Brasil had access to, the state government asks the federal executive branch for 8,000 basic food baskets in addition to those it would receive to distribute to families in cities that have declared an emergency situation due to the consequences of the “atypical” rains that hit part of the state. in 2021. At the time, the state government had already recognized the emergency in nine cities (Bonfim, Cantá, Caracaraí, Caroebe, Normandia, Rorainópolis, São João da Baliza, São Luiz do Anauá and Uiramutã). See the letters received by the government of Roraima: Letter of July 14th Letter of July 23rd “With that, the Ministry of Regional Development, through the National Secretariat of Civil Defense, sent us resources [financeiros] to purchase basic food baskets and rent the aircraft we use to take supplies to isolated communities,” added Ferreira. Also according to the state Civil Defense coordinator, the intention was to obtain 8,000 additional baskets and deliver them to indigenous communities in various locations, including those in the Yanomami land where, it is estimated, around 40,000 Indians of the ethnic group live in an area of hard access. In order to assist indigenous communities “affected by the serious humanitarian situation”, the state government also asked for logistical support from the Armed Forces. “The ministry [da Mulher, Família e dos Direitos Humanos] He replied that he couldn’t help us. He informed that he had forwarded our requests to the Ministry of Defense, Funai [Fundação Nacional dos Povos Indígenas, então vinculada ao Ministério da Justiça e Segurança Pública] and to other bodies. Afterwards, he told us that the indigenous foundation would serve isolated Indians throughout the state. [incluindo os yanomami], distributing around 70,000 food baskets to just over 11,600 families. I cannot say what happened afterwards, but I believe that if we had received the requested support, if the humanitarian aid had arrived on an emergency basis, we would also have been able to assist the Yanomami, which we were unable to do, mainly due to the lack of logistical support. [de transporte]”, summarized the state Civil Defense coordinator. Garimpos In the letters to which Agência Brasil had access and which can be accessed in full in this article, the government of Roraima and the Ministry of Women, Family and Human Rights refer to the “serious humanitarian situation” that indigenous communities in general faced and also the “lack of food and child malnutrition experienced by the Yanomami” already in 2021. The problems, however, are mentioned as “resulting from the high rainfall”, that is, the heavy rains that hit the state that year. For indigenous organizations and public bodies, such as the Federal Public Ministry (MPF), which have long denounced the humanitarian crisis in the Yanomami territory, both the effects of the rains and those of the covid-19 pandemic were aggravated by the harmful consequences of the illegal presence of around 40,000 miners inside the indigenous land, the largest in the country, with almost 9.6 million hectares. Each hectare corresponds to the approximate measurements of an official football field. State Civil Defense intended to obtain 8,000 additional baskets and deliver them to indigenous communities – Fernando Frazão/Agência Brasil According to the Hutukara Associação Yanomami, the forest area destroyed by miners inside the Yanomami reserve has been growing exponentially, having jumped from 1,236 hectares devastated in 2018, to the 5,053 hectares deforested in December 2022, disrupting the indigenous way of life. According to the non-governmental organization (NGO) Instituto Socioambiental (ISA), the humanitarian crisis facing the Yanomami, with health, environmental, sociocultural and economic consequences, is also a reflection of the disruption of indigenous health care over the last five years. According to the current federal administration, at least 570 Yanomami children have died from preventable causes in the last four years. “The association between the devastation caused by illegal mining and the spread of malaria is unequivocal, facilitated by the multiplication of invaders and by the craters with stagnant water, the result of the activity and conducive to the proliferation of mosquitoes that transmit the disease”, highlights the ISA. Defamation Consulted by the report, the former minister of Women, Family and Human Rights and current senator, Damares Alves, said that the ministry did exactly what it was supposed to do: ask for help from the federal government bodies responsible for providing the help requested by the state government. “Innumerable letters were sent to the other ministries and the responses received were positive regarding the fulfillment of the demands. Bodies such as Sesai [Secretaria Especial de Saúde Indígena] and Funai informed that they had distributed basic food baskets and carried out emergency actions to assist indigenous people”, sustains the senator in the note sent by her advisor. The report got in touch with Funai on Monday (30), but has not yet received information about what happened in the previous administration. “No smear campaign, like the one that has been carried out over the last month, will erase all the work done for a lifetime by the senator in favor of indigenous peoples. Damares Alves is, effectively, an indigenist. And she will continue working and dedicating her mandate so that they all have the right to a dignified and full life”, added the senator, who had already used social media to ensure that the Bolsonaro government distributed the necessary basic food baskets directly to the Yanomami. Also in a note, the government of Roraima confirms that, after the heavy rains of 2021, it identified the need for federal support to help the affected populations and attributed the current situation of the Yanomami people to “lack of assistance on the part of the federal government”. “I’ve always been very attentive to the state’s problems and I know how fragile we are as a small federative unit and still very dependent on resources from the federal government. For this reason, it is a rule in our government to pay attention to everything, to ask for help when necessary, to respond to all requests within our possibilities and to be consistent with our actions”, said Governor Antonio Denarium in a response sent by the Secretariat. State of Communication in which it details a series of actions developed in recent years Read the full note here “In the specific case of indigenous peoples, the state government has always sought to act with alternatives for inclusion in ethnic groups where this inclusion was allowed, but within the limits , respecting the culture and habits of each people”, adds the government of Roraima, noting that in the case of health, the initial care is the responsibility of the Special Secretariat for Indigenous Health (Sesai), subordinated to the Ministry of Health, and even so , in four years, 27,650 indigenous people were treated at one of the five public hospitals in the capital, Boa Vista. Government of Roraima said that 27,650 indigenous people were treated in one of the five public hospitals in the capital. Fernando Frazão/Agência Brasil Denarium also commented on the criticism he received due to recent statements. According to the newspaper Folha de S. Paulo, the governor denied, in an interview, the seriousness of the health crisis exposed with the dissemination of images of visibly malnourished adults and children, many with swollen bellies, a clear sign of worms, and with the health units in Boa Vista filled with Yanomami rushed to receive medical support due to malaria, acute respiratory infections and other illnesses for which there are no medicines at the base centers. In addition to mobilizing public opinion, the impact of the images motivated the federal government to declare a Public Health Emergency of National Importance to combat the health and humanitarian crisis. “With regard to the criticisms made in national vehicles, the governor says he is calm, as he believes that a lot was taken out of context. They forget that this lack of assistance on the part of the federal government is what caused this situation for the Yanomami peoples”, points out Denarium in the note sent to Agência Brasil. “I reaffirm that I am against mining in an indigenous area and that I do not want to see indigenous people or not [indígenas] living and experiencing deprivation. Mainly, I don’t want palliative solutions like the ones done until today. We need, together, united, state government and federal government, to provide definitive solutions to any and all problems that afflict our people, whether they are indigenous or not”.
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