The shocking photo of a girl that shows the abandonment of the indigenous Yanomami people in Brazil: she is eight years old and weighs only 12 kilograms

A small body curled up in a hammock, that of a eight year old baby weighing only 12.5 kilos and it is pure skin and bones. This is the image that the natives yanomami spread out to denounce the situation of abandonment from which they suffer Amazonia.

The image of the little girl was taken on April 23 in the village of Maimasi, in the state of Roraima, in the northern region of Brazil, before being transferred by plane to a hospital in the capital, Boa Vista. The normal weight of a girl her age is 20 kilograms, but the little girl suffered from malaria, pneumonia and malnutrition, they reported.

The native chief Darius Kopenawa explained to the newspaper The country that “in the Yanomami culture, we cannot show the image of a child, fragile, sick. But it is very important [hacerlo] for the crisis we are going through“.

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Health abandonment in the largest indigenous reserve in the country

Brazil’s Yanomami country, bordering Venezuela, is home to some 27,000 members of this community and constitutes the the largest indigenous reserve in the country, with 96,000 km², an area as large as the province of Neuquén. However, they face several crises: increase in illegal mining and logging and the increasing armed clashes with the garimpeiros (illegal miners), environmental impact of its activity (deforestation, mercury contamination of drinking water and land, etc.) which lead to hunger in certain regions. In addition, the pandemic impact coronavirus in an area already marked by poor access to health care.

“This photo is a response to the violation of the rights of indigenous peoples,” Kopenawa summed up. “We have been suffering for a long time, without a good structure, without all the full professionals to help us. With the pandemic, the situation worsenedSaid the native chief.

As he said, health teams have been reduced due to the victims of the pandemic. The town of Maimasi, where there is an epidemic of malaria and where several children are suffering from malnutrition and verminosis, had not received a visit from health teams for six months. “The health of the Yanomami is abandoned. Lack of everything, ”he added.

The Secretariat of Indigenous Health (Sesai), the body responsible for the care of indigenous peoples, said for its part The country that the girl was treated on March 19, “but the family did not allow transfer to a health center”.

Beyond the cross versions, the problem particularly affects the most isolated communities. Maimasi is at 11 hours of walking from the nearest health center, they said. “There are places that still don’t get the COVID-19 vaccine because they don’t have professionals. These are communities far from the centers, there is no way to reach them, ”said Júnior Yanomami, member of the District Council for Indigenous Health (Condisi).

According to a study carried out by Fiocruz researchers last year in two areas of the territory, Auaris and Maturaká, the 80% of children under five suffer from chronic malnutrition and 50%, acute malnutrition.

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The impact of illegal mining

For years, the inhabitants of Maimani have been asking for the creation of a health center and more medicines. “Now it’s worse. Malnutrition has increased a lot. Where there is illegal mining, there is the problem of hunger. And in the pandemic, invasions have increased. How to explain the hunger of the Yanomami? They [los mineros] they pollute rivers, destroy forests, destroy animals for hunting. We feed on nature, ”explained Júnior Yanomami.

“You cannot generalize that children are dying of malnutrition, of hunger,” Kopenawa said. “This problem exists when there is the presence of illegal minors. Where there is none, children are healthy, they eat well and they take care of their business. What is missing is health care, ”he said. “The lives of the Yanomami people are in danger. Our territory is vulnerable with so many problems at the same time ”.

According to a report published at the end of March by the Hutukara Yanomami Association (HAY), the illegal mining increased by 30% in 2020 in Yanomami lands, devastating the equivalent of 500 football fields.

According to a federal police report last January, there is approximately “20,000 active” gold miners “” in Yanomami territory. A figure also mentioned by environmental NGOs, although the government of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro questions the extension of Yanomami territory and defends the economic exploitation of preserved areas, said last year that it did not there were no more than 3,500.

Also multiplied malaria case. According to Junior Yanomami, this year alone 10,000 infections, which corresponds to just over a third of the entire Yanomami population. “The girl in the photo probably expresses this amount of tragedy,” said the Pro-Yanomami and Ye’kwana Network in a statement, in which she denounced the “genocidal policy of the Bolsonaro government”.