Shooting attack in Yanomami Land results in the death of a child and injured five indigenous people
According to the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples, the attack took place on Monday (3) in the Parima community, located within Yanomami territory. Federal Police teams were sent to the scene to investigate the authorship of the crime.
Photo Reproduction/DSEI-Y
On Monday (03), there was a shooting attack in the Parima community, located within the Yanomami Indigenous Land, in which a Yanomami child lost his life and five other indigenous people were injured in an armed attack. The injured are an indigenous leader, aged 48, a woman, aged 24, her daughter, aged 12, and two girls, aged 15 and 9.
The president of the Yanomami and Ye'kuana District Health Council (CONDSI-YY), the body of the 7-year-old child, victim of the attack, fell into the river and has not yet been located. An indigenous leader asked the Fire Department to help search for the body. According to the leadership, who had access to the list of indigenous people assisted, the deceased girl is the sister of two other children, aged 9 and 15.
Investigations
After the incident, Federal Police teams, employees of National Foundation of Indigenous Peoples (Funai), from National Force and the National Public Health Force were sent to the area. The Ministry of Indigenous Peoples (MPI) is also on site to monitor the situation. According to an official statement from the ministry, the situation is under control. There is still no information available about the circumstances or the identity of the attackers who managed to flee. There is a suspicion that the aggressors are miners who work in the region. In coordination with the District, military personnel from the Army were also sent to Parima in order to offer security support to the health team in the region.
The MPI informed that the other victims were rescued by employees of the Special Secretariat for Indigenous Health (Sesai) who work in a support base in the region. According to the DSEI-Y, the indigenous people disembarked in Boa Vista by means of a Brazilian Air Force (FAB) plane and were on guard at the General Hospital of Roraima (HGR) and at the Santo Antônio Children's Hospital.
The victims were rescued and hospitals in the state - Photo Reproduction/DSEI-Y
Historic
The largest indigenous territory in Brazil has been constantly targeted by illegal miners for decades and has recently faced a rampant increase in this criminal activity on its lands. This year, there have been other incidents of armed confrontations against indigenous people in the region, one of which occurred in April, resulting in the tragic death of a Yanomami indigenous person and leaving two others injured in this attack perpetrated by illegal prospectors in the Uxiu community.
In addition to armed attacks, it was also facing the destruction of its lands. In 2022, devastation reached an alarming mark of 54%, that is, the invasion of predatory mining not only caused an increase in diseases in the territory, but also generated violence, armed conflicts and significant environmental devastation. This includes an increase in deforestation, inflow of rivers due to market use and losses in hunting and fishing, affecting the natural resources essential for the survival of indigenous people in the forest. However, since January of this year, actions have been taken to reverse this scenario.
On January 20 of this year, Terra Yanomami entered a state of public health emergency and since then, the federal government has taken measures to combat the crisis, including sending health professionals, distributing basic food baskets and removing prospectors from the territory. The last action carried out involved the participation of bodies such as Ibama, the Federal Police, the National Force and the Federal Highway Police. The main objective of the operation is to destroy all the infrastructure used by the garimpeiros and interrupt the supply of supplies for mineral concession activities.
