Why So Serious? Yanomami People in the Amazon Suffering Crisis
Listen, folks, we got a situation here. The Yanomami people in the Amazon are in big trouble, and it’s not just because of some pesky mosquitoes. The rivers they rely on have turned from blue to the color of Coca-Cola, and the mercury from mining has poisoned the water and the fish they eat. And let’s not forget that supplies of lifesaving drugs have run dry—that’s right, lifesaving. Not accommodating, not optional, lifesaving. And to top it off, they’re facing malnutrition and diseases like malaria and tuberculosis. I mean, come on, it’s treatable in 2021!
The Yanomami are one of the Amazon’s largest Indigenous groups, so it’s a big deal when they’re facing a crisis. Mining is the culprit yet again, and it’s not just the animals who are affected. The deforestation and gold mining happening in their home has led to a lot of it. Oh, and just to really set the stage, Bolsonaro’s administration is helping these gold miners destroy their home. Utterly astounding, isn’t it? Way to set a precedent!
Gold miners came over 40 years ago, but now President Bolsonaro is on board, and so are the miners – all 20,000 of them. Bolsonaro even crippled Ibama, an environmental agency that was supposed to keep the miners out. It’s no surprise that some of Yanomami’s leaders are accusing him of genocide – that’s right, genocide!
Even President Lula da Silva, who defeated Bolsonaro, is calling what’s happening “genocide.” And you know it’s bad when the Justice Minister is calling for an investigation for “strong indications of the crime of genocide.” Boy, this Bolsonaro guy gets around, doesn’t he?
But wait, there’s more. Supreme Court Justice Barroso, who ordered the government to expel the gold miners, is also calling for an investigation. People are saying officials tipped the gold miners off before evictions, and Bolsonaro is accused not only of indifference but also of genocide. Who needs to shoot the Yanomami with a gun to commit genocide when you can just let them die from hunger and malaria?
Now, investigators are getting involved, and they plan to interview the Yanomami, study Bolsonaro’s public declarations and government correspondence, and, if they’re lucky, even interview the president himself. But we all know how politicians can be, right? Mr. Bolsonaro claims that patrolling the Yanomami reserve is tough because of the limited landing strips and the size of the area. But that’s not stopping him from blaming Venezuela, either, sending patients into Yanomami territory in collusion with the infamous President Nicolas Maduro for the sole purpose of making Bolsonaro look bad—how Machiavellian.
Prosecutors need to show criminal intent to talk about conviction, and with multiple instances of Bolsonaro being against both Indigenous rights and existence, it’s not looking too good for him. Justice Mendes even said there’s evidence that the Bolsonaro administration ignored pleas from the Yanomami for help. So much for some one-on-one time with the president, huh?
It’s shocking to see the conditions in which these people are living. The lucky ones are huddled together in a government-run shelter in Boa Vista, but the unfortunates are in hospitals. And according to researchers commissioned by the Health Ministry, 99 children under five have succumbed to “preventable diseases.” And that’s just in 2022! Malaria cases have more than doubled since 2018. It’s madness, I tell you!
Some people in the shelter are there because of mercury exposure, and even teenagers are super underweight. And when you’re so undernourished that you’re bone-thin, you know you’re not in a good place. Sure, things have started to get better with the environmental agency’s efforts to destroy mining operations, but it’s not enough, and the Yanomami are still struggling.
The Yanomami people are not strangers to struggles, but it’s about time we start helping them out. They’ve been dealing with what I call a “decades-long struggle to maintain their land and way of life” because of invaders like gold miners. And guess what? Jair Bolsonaro doesn’t seem to care at all! This guy even said, “It’s a shame that the Brazilian cavalry hasn’t been as efficient as the Americans, who exterminated the Indians,” way back in 1998. Did we expect him to all of a sudden reverse his statement now?
So that’s the stage we’re at. We have broken rivers, damaged animals, poisoned water, malnutrition, preventable diseases, and more insanity from Bolsonaro. It’s pretty pathetic, but we have to act. They need our help. And if this isn’t a wake-up call for Brazil and the rest of the world, then what is?
Serious News: washingtonpost
