Agendas with authorities and debates focused on denouncing the impacts of illegal activity on Indigenous Lands
Members of the Alliance in Defense of the Territories, formed in 2021 by the Kayapó, Yanomami and Munduruku peoples – who are among those most affected by illegal mining in the country – discussed, in activities during the 20th Terra Livre Camp (ATL) and in agendas with representatives of official bodies in Brasília, the tragic impacts of the activity in the territories and asked for action to be taken to address the problem.
During the Fight for Life camp, held in August 2021, in Brasília, leaders of the three peoples came together to launch a Manifesto Letter against illegal mining. From this meeting, the proposal to form the Alliance in Defense of the Territories emerged.
On Wednesday (24/04), the indigenous people attended a public hearing at the National Council of Justice (CNJ) and in a meeting with the president of the National Foundation for Indigenous Peoples (Funai), Joenia Wapichana, where they reported human rights violations in Indigenous Lands (TIs).
At the meeting at the CNJ, Judiciary authorities heard the leaders' complaints amid the indigenous movement's concerns about decision of the minister of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), Gilmar Mendes, who proposed a conciliation table to discuss Law No. 14.701/2023, which violates several indigenous rights provided for in the Federal Constitution.
In his speech, the director of the Hutukara Yanomami Association, Maurício Ye'kwana, highlighted the violence that mining causes against the indigenous population, especially women and children.
During the meeting with the president of Funai, one of the Munduruku's main demands was for greater support from the entity for protection actions in the territories, in addition to the resumption of productive activities and improvements in the structure of Regional Coordinations to be able to combat mining.
Joenia Wapichana responded that Funai has not had a budget for reforming the CRs for years, but that they are seeking support through cooperation. In the country, there are 39 CRs linked to Funai, whose function is to coordinate and monitor the implementation of actions to protect and promote the rights of indigenous peoples throughout the country.
A month ago, members of the Alliance held a hearing in Brasília with Paulo Teixeira, general coordinator of deintrusion at the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples (MPI), Carolina Bastos, from the Environmental Protection Directorate (Dipro/MPI), Ronaldo de Almeida Neto, from Federal Public Defender's Office (DPU) and representatives of the Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama), where they were able to present their complaints and demand more effective actions.
After the meeting, the Alliance prepared a letter directed to the authorities and which guided the meetings during the ATL.
Alliance in Defense of Territories in ATL 2024
This Thursday (25/04), a conversation took place in one of the ATL tents, bringing together leaders of the three peoples and representatives of the DPU.
“It is no longer mining like it was in the 1980s. Now it is controlled by [criminal] factions”, warned Dário Kopenawa, vice-president of Hutukara, in ATL. According to the leadership, the presence of organized crime should encourage the State to act more energetically and strategically. “We need to blame those responsible. And this responsibility lies with the government,” he stressed.
The participation of factions in illegal activities such as mining has increased in recent years, especially during the period of the Bolsonaro government, when the action of protection bodies in the territories was practically nil. Confidential reports obtained by Public Agency revealed that there was a lack of support from the authorities to combat the problem in the Yanomami TI.
Two years ago, the report Yanomami Under Attack, launched by Hutukara with support from the Instituto Socioambiental (ISA), brought reports of crimes committed in the territories, such as shooting attacks on communities, in addition to pointing out that members of factions acted as private security guards for the mining.
In 2021, the Maikohipi community, in the Palimiú region, resisted for months successive attacks by miners who were equally linked to a faction criminal. The use of heavy weapons, such as rifles and machine guns, revealed a change in the profile of the invaders.
Last year, the alliance launched the report Torn Earth, which revealed a 495% growth in the area occupied by mining in TIs, between 2010 and 2020. The dossier explains the mechanisms that promote the advancement of illegal, highly mechanized and capitalized mining, and reinforces the need for interinstitutional coordination to guarantee the effectiveness of actions against the activity.
The alliance also premiered, in 2023, the film Listen: the earth has been torn apart, recorded in areas of the three towns. The production highlights the strength and beauty of their culture and daily life, while also addressing the impacts of illegal mining in their territories.
Disagreements in villages and mercury contamination
Bepdjo Mekragnotire, chief of Baú village, which is in IT Chest, in Pará – one of the nine areas of the Kayapó people –, reported that harassment by miners also leads to conflicts in communities, as some of the indigenous people are convinced to join the illegal activity.
“We know that white people deceive us. All of us indigenous people need to fight together to defend ourselves. If we don’t fight together, the fight will weaken”, she pointed out.
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Juarez Saw Munduruku, chief of the Sawré Muybu village, in the Sawré Muybu TI, in Pará, raised concerns about the health impacts of mercury contamination, caused by the use of the toxic metal in gold mining. “We are seeing children born with disabilities and women do not have children at the right time. Mercury doesn’t let children grow in their mother’s womb,” he warned.
Currently, the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) develops a study with the Munduruku to check whether pregnant women are being affected by the mercury used in illegal mining.
He recalled that, in recent years, studies carried out in partnership with Fiocruz demonstrated high levels of mercury in the bodies of the Munduruku, which causes malformations in babies and serious health problems, most of which are permanent. “When a person becomes ill because of metal, there is no cure. The level of mercury is increasing in our blood,” she denounced.
According to experts from the Foundation, mercury contamination occurs essentially through the consumption of fish. With the flow of rivers and the movement of fish beyond the limits of the TIs, Chief Munduruku recalled, non-indigenous people are also exposed to the risk of consuming poisoned fish and becoming ill. “Non-indigenous people are also contaminated with mercury. Illegal mining is not good for anyone”, he pointed out.
Study from Fiocruz, ISA, UFOPA, Greenpeace Brasil, Iepé and WWF-Brasil, launched in 2023 and carried out in the main urban centers of the Amazon, covering six states and 17 Amazon municipalities, showed that fish from all of them presented contamination levels above the acceptable limit by the World Health Organization (WHO). The worst rates are in Roraima, with 40%.
Fiocruz and ISA recently launched a search which recorded the presence of mercury in all Yanomami in nine villages besieged by mining, in the Alto Rio Mucajaí region, in the Yanomami Indigenous Land. The researchers identified the metal in hair samples from around 300 people analyzed, including children and the elderly.
"Mining does not bring benefits to indigenous populations, nor to white people. It brings death. That is the reality" reinforced Dario Kopenawa.