Lula Orders Permanent Military Actions in Yanomami Land Against Illegal Mining

Millionaire Investment for Indigenous Assistance

In total, 1.2 billion reais (245 million dollars) will be invested to implement the new public policies to assist indigenous people, which include a permanent headquarters of the Government in the area.

The decision was made after a meeting between the Brazilian president and several of his ministers and senior government officials in which the situation of the Yanomami people was evaluated a year after emergency actions had been decreed to stop the health crisis that the Yanomami people had been suffering. natives.

Lula’s Direct Action in the Yanomami Crisis

The action of the uniformed men was activated by Lula a week after assuming his third term after being an eyewitness to the hunger, diseases, and lack of assistance suffered by the indigenous people, victims of the invasion of their lands by illegal miners. and as a result of the abandonment of the State.

Although in the first instance, there was strong action by the authorities, the operations were not permanent, which implied the return of activities such as illegal mining, which brings diseases such as malaria and uses heavy metals for the extraction of gold, contaminating the water. of the rivers and exterminating fishing.

Lula’s Commitment: “A Question of State”

“We are going to treat the indigenous and Yanomami issue as a State issue, that is, we are going to have to make an even greater effort, using all the power that the public machinery may have, because we can’t lose a war against mining.” illegal loggers, the people who are doing things against what the law determines,” Lula said at the meeting.

At the end of the meeting, the Minister of the Presidency, Rui Costa, pointed out in a press conference that the permanent activities will not only be carried out by those in uniform, since the permanent headquarters of the Government in the area will also have representatives from the ministries of Environment, Human Rights and Education, among others.

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“It is necessary to restore fishing, and crops and that food security does not depend on the arrival of a basic food basket,” he emphasized. The new headquarters will also deal with issues related to Venezuelans arriving in Brazil, since of the 800,000 who have entered the country, about 100,000 are settled in the border state of Roraima.
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