Brazil dismantles 200 illegal mining camps in Yanomami indigenous territories 

Brazil’s Federal Police dismantled 200 illegal mining camps in the Yanomani indigenous territories in the Amazon in a month of operations, the entity said in a statement.

In the first month of the so-called Operation Liberation, launched by the Federal Police with the Armed Forces, the National Public Security Force, the Brazilian Institute of Environment, and the National Indian Foundation, 27 tonnes of cassiterite, a fundamental mineral for obtaining tin, which, in turn, is used in alloy with copper to get bronze, have also been seized.

In this regard, 11,400 liters of fuel, 84 ferries, and boats, two aircraft, as well as 172 engines and power generators, equipment such as mining machinery, chainsaws, mercury, satellite Internet modems, cell phones, one tonne of food, as well as weapons, and ammunition have been destroyed or seized.

Parallel to these actions in the Yanomami Reserve, the Regional Superintendence of the Federal Police in Roraima has carried out more than 40 actions related to illegal mining in the region.

“We are attentive to the expectations that Brazilian society has concerning issues related to the Amazon and the environment, and we will act to guarantee the rights of the affected populations, confronting organized crime to reach all the links in the criminal chain of illegality”, stated in the message the director of Environment and Amazon of the Federal Police, Humberto Freire.

With information from La Tercera

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