Yanomami indigenous people suffer impacts caused by illegal mining

Illegal mining in the Yanomami territory has been causing multiple impacts on the social life of these indigenous people. The humanitarian crisis is most visible in the delicate health conditions, especially of children and the elderly, as seen in recent weeks. But it also has cultural dimensions.

Last week, Agência Brasil visited Indigenous Healthcare Unit Casai, in Boa Vista, the capital of Roraima state and also Surucucu Polo Base, an area in the Yanomami territory. During the visits, indigenous people and specialists spoke about how they perceive these impacts.

A mother of two children hospitalized at Casai, Louvânia Yanomami has lost track of how long she has been away from her land. With no discharge forecast, she was warned by the doctors that if she takes her son out of the health facility, she could put his life at risk. The child, who is between one and two years old, is suffering from severe malnutrition and swollen abdomen.

"I'm very tired, there are a lot of people here [at Casai], as you can tell. It's a difficult situation. I won't leave him because he's my [son], if I take him away he'll die," she explained, anguished, with the help of an interpreter.

In January, Casai housed more than 700 people, even though it has a capacity for a little more than 200. This overcrowding has been reduced, but over 500 people are still living there, according to last week's report from the federal government's Center for Emergency Operations (COE).

Mining and environmental damage

"Dirty water, to eat, spoil fish. Children very weak. Water to drink dirty and stomach hurt a lot," says Enenexi Yanomami, who is trying to describe the situation experienced by his relatives back on his indigenous land. Agência Brasil met the 21-year-old young indigenous man at the entrance to Casai. According to him, he had already spent 60 days in the capital of the state of Roraima to accompany sick family members. The return to his indigenous territory, which depends on air transport, had no forecast. For him, mining is what has caused the damage that affects his people. "Now we have to get rid of minings. When they do, it's okay. There is lot of mining there, [it must be] prohibited."

Another person who complains about the environmental damage caused by illegal mining is Arokona Yanomami. He explained how the heavy machinery of dredges and tractors scares away game animals and pollutes the land. "Bad smell. Game dies, everything dies. Land is not good, very ugly. Smoke machine came in, so smells very bad. They contaminated land, contaminated water, polluted fish," he says. Now, to hunt a bushpig, he must walk at least 50 kilometers away from the most deteriorated area.

Lost reference

"Mining affects the basic food chain of the Yanomami people. They are territorial mobility people, they live from hunting, fishing, gathering and agriculture. Nothing could be sadder for a Yanomami hunter than not to have enough game to feed his family," explains anthropologist Maria Auxiliadora Lima de Carvalho. She has worked for over 20 years with the Yanomami people in Roraima.

"The Yanomami people have never needed food donations to survive. This whole scenario of vulnerability has been provoked. The biggest evil is still the presence of the miners, the mining," says Special Secretary of Indigenous Health of the Ministry of Health, Weibe Tapeba, who visited the indigenous territory last Thursday (9).

Rituals

Even some of the most sacred Yanomami rituals are being drastically disrupted by mining activities and the general lack of health care in the territory. This is the case with funeral ceremonies. The Yanomami people do not bury their dead. They cremate the bodies and then grind the bones into powder. The process can take weeks and often includes a final phase in which the community performs an act of eating banana porridge with the ashes of the deceased.

"The Yanomami make a point of funeral rituals, but the number of dead is so high that there isn't even time to mourn them," the anthropologist says. These ceremonies may also include the presence of visitors from different villages, and in these cases, the hosts usually offer a game animal, which has become scarce in the regions affected by mining. 

The introduction of alcohol into the Yanomami culture, which is not recent but has worsened, is another destabilizing factor. Kaxiri, a very traditional non-alcoholic drink made from cooked cassava, started to be fermented by the indigenous people to a high alcohol content during the first invasion of their territory at the end of the 1980's. "This has increased cases of violence against women and violence in general," Maria Auxiliadora explains. It has also interfered with agricultural production, leading the indigenous people to increase the planting of cassava to produce the drink, expanding the cycle of alcohol consumption in the villages.

Harassed youth

The anthropologist also observes another type of community disruption caused by mining. During the first major outbreak of illegal mining in the Yanomami indigenous territory, beginning in the second half of the 1980s, most of the indigenous population were adults. Today, however, the base of the age pyramid has become much more numerous, with a strong presence of adolescents and young people. However, the vast majority of schools within the territory have been deactivated by the state government.

"Public policies don't reach these young people. They are young, they want adventures. Consequently, the mining industry has enormously harassed these young people, giving them access to weapons, which they are very fond of, and other objects," Carvalho added.

She also cites the case of sexual harassment of miners against indigenous women, which she observed during fieldwork in the community, where she remained for several years, between 2002 and 2009. According to her, the accusations that are being revealed now, with the explosion of mining in the territory, are very likely.

"With the intensification of mining activities, it is quite possible that seduction has become a more regular practice. The women really like soaps, hair oil, food. So, this exchange for sexual relations, whether consented to or not, is unequal, because there are very clear positions of power," she argues.

The Brazilian government is investigating the case of 30 Yanomami girls who are said to be pregnant by miners working illegally in the territory.

Hope

Amidst the chaos experienced by the Yanomami people, hope for the future lies in the reactivation of schools in the region, which were closed more than a decade ago.

"We used to have schools here, I still remember,” says Ivo Yanomami, tuxaua (indigenous chief) in the community of Xirimifik, with more than 200 people, mostly children and adolescents. The village is about 15 minutes’ walk from the Surucucu road.

The demand for the resumption of indigenous schools within the territory will be taken to the federal government, assured Secretary of Indigenous Health Weibe Tapeba, during his visit to the region.

*Flávia Peixoto and Ana Graziela Aguiar - TV Brasil reporters - have contributed to this report.