|
The
police operation adds to enforcement raids launched earlier this
week by Brazil's environmental and indigenous agencies to expel
thousands of wildcat miners from the country's largest
indigenous reservation.
Police said they would try and destroy machinery used by illegal
miners as part of the first phase of the operation, joining
efforts with environmental agency Ibama, indigenous agency Funai,
the National Force and the Defense Ministry.
"The main focus of the operation is fully removing
non-indigenous people from the Yanomami territory," the head of
the federal police environment department, Humberto Freire, said
in a statement.
More than 20,000 miners invaded the reservation in northern
Brazil, bringing disease, sexual abuse and armed violence that
has terrified the Yanomamis, estimated to be about 28,000 in
number, and led to severe malnutrition and deaths.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's government earlier this
year declared a medical emergency for the Yanomamis and said it
would have zero tolerance for mining on indigenous reservation
land protected by Brazil's Constitution.
Police said the final goal of their latest operation would be to
"completely eradicate illegal mining" in the territory while
protecting the Yanomamis.
(Reporting by Gabriel Araujo; Editing by Steven Grattan)
[© 2023 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2022 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
|
|
