The shocking photo of 8-year-old girl weighing 12 kilograms: the ravages of illegal mining and coronavirus in Brazil’s Yanomami

A week ago, the photo of an eight-year-old Yanomami girl who weighed only 12.5 pounds went viral. He suffered from malaria, pneumonia and malnutrition. It was broadcast by the indigenous peoples themselves to denounce the crisis that many of their communities are going through. A few days later, one year old baby who weighed 3 kilos has died in another case of acute malnutrition.

As he said then Darius Kopenawa, son of the famous shaman Davi Kopenawa, one of the world’s most recognized indigenous leaders, hunger is a direct consequence of illegal mining gold and diamonds.

“This problem exists when there is the presence of illegal minors. Where there is none, the children are healthy, eat well and attend to their activities, ”said Kopenawa.

The Yanomami are around 27,000 and they live in the the largest indigenous reserve in the country, a territory of 96,000 km² – an area as large as the province of Neuquén – in the Amazon jungle, on the border with Venezuela, between the states of Amazonas and Roraima.

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The NGO Survival estimates that there are approximately 370 villages composed of large circular communal houses called ynos, in which each family has its own bonfire. The Yanomami make a living from hunting, fishing, and crops such as bananas and cassava.

An invasion of illegal miners

For months, the Yanomami have denounced a real invasion of prospectors, illegal minors, who are said to be close to 20,000. According to a report published in late March by the Hutukara Yanomami Association (HAY), illegal mining increased by 30% in 2020 in Yanomami lands, devastating about 500 hectares. The total area deforested is 2,400 hectares, they say.

The environmental impact of mining directly affects the Yanomami, who live off much of what the forest offers them. Deforestation and mercury ore mining pollutes rivers and land, kill and hunt animals.

“The water is dirty, the river is yellow, everything is full of holes. Illegal miners are like pigs, ”Davi Kopenawa said, presenting the report:“ They come like hungry animals, in search of the riches of our land. They develop very quickly. They reach the heart of Yanomami territory“.

Garimpeiros are also responsible for the constant armed attacks to communities, which leave dead, wounded and constant terror.

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In May, a complaint from a Yanomami woman from the Palimiú community in Roraima state went viral after days of clashes with minors.

“People have no peace, they come at night and many hope that they will be killed. The children flee to the forest (…) Every day I cry with fearwith no hope of future security. We need police forces. […] I am asking for help here to protect women and children, ”said Darlene Yanomami.

Given the seriousness of the phenomenon, a judge of the Supreme Court of Brazil ordered on Monday the government of Jair Bolsonaro take the necessary measures” to protect the indigenous peoples of the Yanomami and Mundurucu territories, “against the threat of violent attacks and the presence of invaders”.

A scourge protected by Bolsonaro

Several NGOs and specialists attribute the massive arrival of prospectors to the policies of President Jair Bolsonaro, which questions the extension of Yanomami Land and advocates the economic exploitation of preserved areas for mining and cattle ranching.

“Jair Bolsonaro’s government encouraged this invasion of Yanomami territory. The speech of this person is aggressive and totally based on illegality, as President of Brazil, give security to this crime so that it can continue. The garimpeiros feel free to invade the indigenous territories, they believe that they will not be punished and this is what is happening in Brazil. That number of 20,000 gold miners is increasing every day, ”the anthropologist told TN.com.ar Sílvia Guimarães, professor at the University of Brasilia and member of the Yanomami and Ye’kwana Support Network.

In addition, the far-right president denied the phenomenon and said last year that there were no more than 3,500 illegal minors.

Anthropologist Marcos Wesley, who has worked in the area for over 20 years, also underlined the gravity of the situation in an interview with the German wave. “It is the most serious moment since the first major invasion of the native Yanomami land.When some 40,000 miners arrived in the 1980s before international pressure forced them to evict and the indigenous Yanomami Land was established in 1992.

According to the NGO Survival, the garimpeiros then destroyed many communities and exposed them to diseases to which they were not immune. It is estimated that 20% of the Yanomami died in the 1980s.

According to Wesley, now even the most remote places, where researchers were not present before, are affected.

Diseases, food sovereignty and malnutrition

The coronavirus pandemic has made the situation even worse for indigenous peoples. State controls over mining have been reduced and the shortage of medical personnel in the region has increased. The difficult access to the area did not prevent the arrival of the virus.

“The Yanomami face the strategic inefficiency of health services which, under the current president, were not effective in controlling COVID and other diseases such as malaria and worms. The situation is very chaotic, without health professionals, ”Guimarães said.

“There is a lack of drugs to fight malaria and also worms, so adults get sick, children get sick. The Yanomami have food sovereignty over their territory, they produce their food and manage the forest very well to have others, ”he explained.

“But when gold mining comes into the land, with it malaria makes adults sick and they can’t produce their food. It falls to the weakest link, children. Thus, the ailments that accompany gold mining and the lack of medical care create an explosion of problems that prevent them from fully living their food sovereignty, ”added the anthropologist.

According to a study conducted by UNICEF and the Fiocruz Foundation in May 2020, carried out in villages in the regions of Auaris and Maturacá – within the indigenous Yanomami land. eight out of ten children under 5 suffer from chronic malnutrition.

The Impact of COVID-19 on Indigenous Peoples

According to a follow-up by the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB), already 1,092 indigenous people have died from the virus across the country. COVID-19 has affected 163 villages and 54,785 members of indigenous peoples have been infected since the first case was recorded in Brazil on February 26, 2020.

The Brazilian government speaks for its part of 694 deaths and 48,888 infections, according to figures released by the Special Secretariat for Indigenous Health (Sesai).

According to the APIB, nine deaths from coronavirus have been confirmed among the Yanomami.

“The arrival of the coronavirus in Yanomami Indigenous Territory has left us more powerless. We did not have the necessary support from the government, ”Junior Yanomami, member of the District Council for Indigenous Health, told local media, highlighting the gaps in medical care.

Chloroquine and slow vaccination

The government’s response included sending in controversial remedies. With Jair Bolsonaro as one of the main promoters of the use of hydroxychloroquine to fight COVID-19, the Ministries of Health and Defense and the National Indigenous Foundation (Funai) delivered some 39,500 tablets of chloroquine and azithromycin in the native Yanomami land, even though they have no proven efficacy against disease.

Junior Yanomami also stressed the slow arrival of vaccines, when indigenous peoples are among the priority groups of the national coronavirus vaccination plan.

According to the Ministry of Health, the goal is to vaccinate all Yanomami over 18, who number 12,253 and represent 43.5% of the total number of indigenous people living on the reserve. Of this target audience, so far the 79% were vaccinated with the first dose and 58% with the second.

Reports of missing bodies

The pain of deaths from the pandemic, as the Yanomami add a dimension of cultural violence. According to local media, biosecurity protocols involve the burial of bodies. But the Yanomami never bury theirs, they they cremate the bodies and they say goodbye with long collective rituals.

“There is a violation of their human right as a people to live a life of dignity, when they are prevented from being able to dispose of their dead, especially because in some cases the bodies have disappearedThey have not been informed of what happened to these deceased people, ”Guimarães said.

“Yanomami leaders are fighting against these mistakes and seeking to establish a dialogue with health services to reverse the situation. The Yanomami understand the dangers of COVID and its contagion, but want to discuss other possibilities. For the Yanomami, not being able to perform their funeral ceremonies is a very serious act, which does not allow the living and the dead to follow their paths»Explained the anthropologist.