Lula visita os Yanomami em Roraima_jan2023_Foto_Ricardo Stuckert_Palácio do Planalto.jpeg
YANOMAMI

"We will treat our indigenous people as human beings," says Lula during his visit to Roraima

President promised to bring transportation and medical care to the indigenous people, in addition to ending the illegal mining that affects Yanomami land

O Liberal

With information from G1 Roraima and Agência Brasil.

23/01/2023

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva visited on Saturday (21) the hospital and Indigenous Health Support House, in Boa Vista, in the state of Roraima, and said that the situation of the Yanomami people is inhuman. He said that he will bring transportation and medical care to the indigenous people, as well as putting an end to illegal mining in the region. Lula was accompanied by several ministers of state and the first lady, Janja Silva. 

Lula was in Boa Vista to check on the health crisis affecting the Yanomami. The situation has killed 570 children in recent years, almost half of them were under one year old. Last year, 11,530 cases of malaria were reported on Yanomami land.

_Lula visita os Yanomami em Roraima_jan2023_Foto_Ricardo Stuckert_Palácio do Planalto.jpeg
Lula was in Roraima to check on the health crisis affecting the Yanomami, that already killed 570 children - Photo: Ricardo Stuckert_Palácio do Planalto

"If someone told me that here in Roraima they had people being treated inhumanely like the Yanomami people are treated here, I wouldn't believe it," the president said. "We will treat our indigenous people as human beings, responsible for part of what we are," he stressed.

The support home that Lula attended currently has 700 indigenous people being cared for. Most of the cases are children with severe malnutrition.

The president said that one of the priority actions is the organization of the logistic network for the transport of supplies and people between the villages and the city, such as the improvement of aircraft landing strips in regions closer to the communities. "It can't be done in a few hours, but my commitment is to do it," Lula said.

I made a commitment to the [indigenous] brothers that we will give them the dignity they deserve in health, in education, in food, in the right to come and go to do the things they need in the city" - Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva

Another 200 indigenous people who are in the support house in Boa Vista have been discharged, but have not yet been able to return due to lack of transportation. "I made a commitment to the [indigenous] brothers that we will give them the dignity they deserve in health, in education, in food, in the right to come and go to do the things they need in the city," added Lula.

The National Coordination Committee for Confronting the Health Denial of the Yanomami Populations in Yanomami Territory was created on Friday (20) to talk about the measures to be adopted, as well as to help in the inter- and interfederative articulation. 
Due to the situation presented with the Yanomami people, the Ministry of Health declared a Public Health Emergency of National Importance to combat the health problems of the people living in the Yanomami indigenous territory.

The expectation is that professionals from the National Force of SUS will begin arriving in Roraima on Monday (23). In addition, the Armed Forces will set up a field hospital near the support house in Boa Vista. Medical supplies and food will be sent by the government to the communities.

According to Agência Brasil, the Yanomami indigenous land is the largest in the country in terms of land area, but suffers from the invasion of miners. The contamination of the land and water by the mercury used in mining impacts the availability of food for the indigenous people.

Lula stated that he was fighting the illegalities in the area. "I know the difficulty of removing the illegal mining, it has been tried other times and they come back," he argued.

"But we will take very seriously to stop any illegal mining and even if it is a land that has authorization from the agency to do research, they can do research without destroying the water, the forest and without putting at risk the lives of the people who depend on the water to survive," Lula said. "It is important for people to know that this country has changed government and the government will now act with the seriousness in treating the people that this country had forgotten," he added.

Last year, the Federal Prosecution Office (MPF) requested the resumption of protection actions and police operations against illegal mining in the Yanomami Indigenous Land. In November 2022, the entity submitted to the Ministry of Health a request for intervention in one of the local health districts for suspected misappropriation of public resources.