Brazil’s Justice Ministry authorizes deployment of National Force in Yanomami Land

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Ministry of Justice and Public Safety has authorized the deployment of the National Public Security Force to support the Yanomami Indigenous Land, Brazil’s largest indigenous reserve.

The indigenous Palimiú community is located on Yanomami Land, on the banks of the Uraricoera River, and is part of the route used by miners to reach their camps in the heart of the forest.

The region is in Alto Alegre, northern Roraima, and since May 10 has been the stage of a series of armed conflicts between miners and indigenous people. Federal Supreme Court (STF) Justice Luís Roberto Barroso in late May ordered the government to take measures to protect the Yanomami Land.

The ordinance published in the Federal Gazette this Monday was signed by Justice Minister Anderson Torres, and is in force for 90 days and is extendable.

Read also: Check out our extensive coverage on Yanomami

According to the document, the National Force’s support will comprise “activities and services essential to the preservation of public order and the safety of people and property, on an accessory and planned basis.”

Conflicts

The Yanomami Indigenous Land is located in the municipality of Alto Alegre and has been the target of illegal gold mining since the 1980s.

The District Indigenous Health Council (CONDISI) and the Hutukara Yanomami Association claim that the May 10 conflicts were triggered by a kind of health barrier the indigenous people have set up to prevent Covid-19 contamination and the advance of illegal mining on Yanomami land.

According to the institutions, the indigenous people have used the barriers to seize materials that would be taken by miners to the illegal mining camps in the heart of the forest.

Federal Supreme Court

In late May, Federal Supreme Court Justice Luís Roberto Barroso granted a petition and ordered the federal government to immediately take “all necessary measures” to protect life, health and safety of indigenous populations of the Yanomami and Munduruku Indigenous Lands.”

The petition was filed by the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB), the Fderal Public Defender, human rights organizations and 6 other parties.

In his decision, Barroso stated that he understood that “evidence of a threat to the life, health, and safety of the communities located in the Yanomami and Munduruku Indigenous Lands” had been shown and that this was reflected in “these peoples’ health vulnerability, aggravated by the presence of invaders, by the Covid-19 contamination they generate, and by the acts of violence they perpetrate.”