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Yanomami humanitarian crisis
During the presidency of Jair Bolsonaro (2019–2023), a series of mass deaths, famine, forced displacements and other major human rights violations took place in the Brazilian Yanomami Indigenous Territory. Such events reportedly started or were aggravated from 2019 on as a consequence of rampant exploitation of natural resources by individuals and companies with state approval, and have been frequently said to constitute a genocide against the Yanomami people. It is part of the larger ongoing genocide of Indigenous peoples in Brazil.
After being elected in the 2018 Brazilian general elections and taking office under his pledge to loosen environmental policies, especially in the Brazilian Amazon region, then president Jair Bolsonaro repealed several presidential decrees banning illegal mining and illegal logging nationwide, and effectively dismantled environment protection agencies.
In January 2023, following the end of Bolsonaro's administration due to his defeat in the 2022 Brazilian general elections, new government officials appointed by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took office and immediately were briefed about an escalation of the Yanomami crisis. Over 20,000 illegal miners were estimated to have invaded and exploited the Yanomami reservation, prompting comparisons with the 1980's Serra Pelada gold rush, also in the Amazon.
Government neglect, agricultural encroachment and illegal activities affecting the area preceded the creation of the Yanomami reserve in 1992. The first contacts between the Yanomami indigenous peoples and white men intermittently happened between the 1910s and 1940s; in the following two decades, such contacts increased due to religious missions in the region, road construction work and mining projects by the military regime in the area in the 1970s, during which the first reports of epidemics especially of flu, measles and whooping cough emerged linked to the decimation of entire Yanomami communities. Ever since, the region has suffered from being a hotspot for illegal activities, notably illegal mining, leading to mercury poisoning of several tribespeople, including infants.
A network of politicians, local public servants, farmers, business people and companies was organized to illegally exploit gold and cassiterite as well as to launder the criminal activities in the Yanomami territory. Hidden runaways were built in dozens of nearby and even distant rural properties (as far as in Boa Vista). Some of the gold extracted has been taken to Venezuela and French Guyana, and refinery facilities and depots have also been used in the scheme.
Additionally, Rodrigo Martins de Mello, a pro-Bolsonaro businessman, was charged with operating under an "irregular license" and heading another criminal organization operating in the reservation.
On January 16, 2023, Brazilian newspaper Folha de São Paulo reported that Brazilian former army general Augusto Heleno, a former minister under the Bolsonaro government, authorized a convicted drug dealer to run a gold mining project in the Yanomami region. On January 27, Brazilian newspaper O Globo reported that the Brazilian Central Bank failed to crack down on gold laundering. The failure has reportedly emboldened some 20,000 illegal miners to further exploit indigenous territories including the Yanomami reservation.
Legal mining companies such as M.M. Gold (rebranded from Gana Gold) have also masqueraded illegal activities by faking far more than permitted amounts of gold to be extracted in their concessions, according to a report by Mongabay and The Intercept Brazil. Cryptocurrencies have been also used to launder criminal activity and transfer financial assets to stooges.
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Yanomami humanitarian crisis
During the presidency of Jair Bolsonaro (2019–2023), a series of mass deaths, famine, forced displacements and other major human rights violations took place in the Brazilian Yanomami Indigenous Territory. Such events reportedly started or were aggravated from 2019 on as a consequence of rampant exploitation of natural resources by individuals and companies with state approval, and have been frequently said to constitute a genocide against the Yanomami people. It is part of the larger ongoing genocide of Indigenous peoples in Brazil.
After being elected in the 2018 Brazilian general elections and taking office under his pledge to loosen environmental policies, especially in the Brazilian Amazon region, then president Jair Bolsonaro repealed several presidential decrees banning illegal mining and illegal logging nationwide, and effectively dismantled environment protection agencies.
In January 2023, following the end of Bolsonaro's administration due to his defeat in the 2022 Brazilian general elections, new government officials appointed by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took office and immediately were briefed about an escalation of the Yanomami crisis. Over 20,000 illegal miners were estimated to have invaded and exploited the Yanomami reservation, prompting comparisons with the 1980's Serra Pelada gold rush, also in the Amazon.
Government neglect, agricultural encroachment and illegal activities affecting the area preceded the creation of the Yanomami reserve in 1992. The first contacts between the Yanomami indigenous peoples and white men intermittently happened between the 1910s and 1940s; in the following two decades, such contacts increased due to religious missions in the region, road construction work and mining projects by the military regime in the area in the 1970s, during which the first reports of epidemics especially of flu, measles and whooping cough emerged linked to the decimation of entire Yanomami communities. Ever since, the region has suffered from being a hotspot for illegal activities, notably illegal mining, leading to mercury poisoning of several tribespeople, including infants.
A network of politicians, local public servants, farmers, business people and companies was organized to illegally exploit gold and cassiterite as well as to launder the criminal activities in the Yanomami territory. Hidden runaways were built in dozens of nearby and even distant rural properties (as far as in Boa Vista). Some of the gold extracted has been taken to Venezuela and French Guyana, and refinery facilities and depots have also been used in the scheme.
Additionally, Rodrigo Martins de Mello, a pro-Bolsonaro businessman, was charged with operating under an "irregular license" and heading another criminal organization operating in the reservation.
On January 16, 2023, Brazilian newspaper Folha de São Paulo reported that Brazilian former army general Augusto Heleno, a former minister under the Bolsonaro government, authorized a convicted drug dealer to run a gold mining project in the Yanomami region. On January 27, Brazilian newspaper O Globo reported that the Brazilian Central Bank failed to crack down on gold laundering. The failure has reportedly emboldened some 20,000 illegal miners to further exploit indigenous territories including the Yanomami reservation.
Legal mining companies such as M.M. Gold (rebranded from Gana Gold) have also masqueraded illegal activities by faking far more than permitted amounts of gold to be extracted in their concessions, according to a report by Mongabay and The Intercept Brazil. Cryptocurrencies have been also used to launder criminal activity and transfer financial assets to stooges.