Brazil: Yanomami indigenous reserve is declared in a state of health emergency

The Brazilian government declared the state of health emergency in the indigenous reserve Yanomamithe largest of Brazilgiven the lack of medical care for its population, which suffers from cases of child malnutrition Y malaria.

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President Lula, who will visit the region this Saturday to learn about the status of the Yanomami children, also created a national coordination committee to combat the lack of assistance to that indigenous community, according to what was published in an extra edition of the Official diary Friday night.

The declaration of health emergency was signed by the Minister of Health, Nisia Trindadewho will also set up a public health emergency operations center to “plan, organize, coordinate and control” the measures taken to resolve the situation.

“We will join all efforts to guarantee life and overcome this crisis”the progressive president said today on his social networks, while heading to the Amazon state of Roraima, on the border with Venezuela, which houses a large part of the land Yanomami.

The Brazilian Yanomami shaman and spokesman for the Yanomami Indians in Brazil, Davi Kopenawa Yanomami, poses during a photo session in Paris, on January 29, 2020. (Photo: Martin BUREAU / AFP) (MARTIN BUREAU /)

The leader of the Workers’ Party (PT) will be accompanied by the Minister of Indigenous Peoples, Sonia Guajajarawho warned about the crisis “humanitarian” and “sanitary” faced by the Yanomami, also affected by the strong presence of informal miners, mainly gold seekers.

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“It is very sad to know that indigenous people, including 570 Yanomami children, died of hunger during the last government” far-right Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022), denounced the minister on her Twitter profile, who described it as “inadmissible” to see her “relatives die of malnutrition.”

The Yanomami indigenous reserve is a vast territory of almost 10 million hectares and where more than 30,400 people currently live, according to official data.

In the 1990s, the Yanomami lost a fifth of their population to diseases imported by informal miners, whose work Bolsonaro, a defender of the exploitation of the natural resources of the Amazon, tried to legalize.

Lula has promised that during his term, which will run until January 4, 2027, he will protect indigenous peoples and end destruction in the Amazon rainforest, which has reached record levels of deforestation with Bolsonaro in the power.

Source: Elcomercio