They live in Depths of the Amazon in huts, far from what the West understands as civilization, they hunt, fish and grow food.
Their land extends into the states of Roraima and Amazonas in Brazil, where there are an estimated 30,000 indigenous Yanomami.
Because they live in isolation from the rest of the world, they are extremely vulnerable to common viruses.
However, as the price of gold rose, however vulnerable they were, they were not spared from the “invasion” of tens of thousands of miners who flocked to their supposedly protected lands.
Who are the Yanomami?
They live in leaf huts, in scattered villages, small and “semi-temporary”, which they move to another location when the land dries up or the village becomes a target for other Yanomami.
One of the Yanomami settlements. Source: AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos.
They grow tobacco, a favorite of all ages, and cotton, an important commodity both for the home and for trade.
They prey on monkeys, deer, tapirs, birds and armadillos.
As hunters and farmers, the Yanomami maintain a symbiotic relationship with their environment.
“Bloody Government”
Illegal gold hunters, known as garimpeiros, began to flock to the land of the Yanomami in the 1970s and 1980s, with the blessing of a military dictatorship that encouraged impoverished Brazilians to settle the territory they claimed they sought to occupy with foreign powers.
Worldwide outcry, including the anathematization of Prince Charles, who denounces the “collective genocide” Yanomami – mobilized the government. In the early 1990s, tens of thousands of gold miners were removed from indigenous lands in a special operation called Selva Livre (Liberation of the Jungle). The then president, Fernando Color de Melo, allegedly created protected area 9.6 million hectares for the Yanomami, which still exist today.
Two Yanomami girls in May 1992. They were taken to a clinic north of Boa Vista due to malnutrition and malaria. Source: A.P.
However, the Yanomami threat returned a few years later. In 2018, after the presidential elections in Brazil, the extreme right Jair Bolsonaro publicly protested against the allocation to the natives of such a large tract of land rich in minerals.
Thus, during the four years of Bolsonaro’s rule – as deforestation intensified in the Amazon and the voice of activists and indigenous people weakened – at least 25,000 miners flocked to the Yanomami lands, near the border with Venezuela, bringing violence and disease with them. .
Source: Kathimerini
Anna White is a journalist at 247 News Reel, where she writes on world news and current events. She is known for her insightful analysis and compelling storytelling. Anna’s articles have been widely read and shared, earning her a reputation as a talented and respected journalist. She delivers in-depth and accurate understanding of the world’s most pressing issues.