The President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, proposed this Monday to develop an agricultural program to encourage indigenous production and legalize the country with ready documents.
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More than 19,000 illegal miners are leaving the Yanomami reserve in Brazil
“Let’s think of an agricultural production program to encourage domestic production in the countryside. And we will legalize the land that has ready documents so that we can take care of a valuable asset for us,” said the President, who is attending the 52nd General Assembly of Indigenous Peoples in Roraima State.
The head of state also pointed out that “to the extent that indigenous people have an incentive to produce, they will produce like anyone else living off the land,” insisting that if the resources to fund agriculture are in place are, the natives in the plantations also they should be rewarded.
As long as the indigenous people have an incentive to produce, they will produce like everyone else living on the land. Let’s go back to Brasília and talk to the ministers, because we have money to fund agriculture, why is there no money for the indigenous people on the plantation?
— Lula (@LulaOficial)
March 13, 2023
Likewise, Lula da Silva warned that there is still much to be promoted for indigenous peoples and the government has a responsibility to provide this guarantee.
He also explained that the organization conceived by the communities will be respected and not carried out as a vertical line of power.
Referring to the reality of the Yanomami in Brazil, the President mentioned that he visited the Yanomami Indigenous Health House and “had no idea that a country that is the third largest food producer in the world could starve its children. We have made a commitment with our ministries to change that,” he said.
How many more indigenous trained doctors, better. Therefore, we will create more technical schools and universities. We want young people to have the opportunity to study whatever they want along with the voices.
— Lula (@LulaOficial)
March 13, 2023
In this regard, one of the Yanomami leaders, Davi Kopenawa, stated that “after the miners are removed, the Special Secretariat for Indigenous Health (Sesai) will be restored. We must rescue the remaining children. 577 have already died, I didn’t want them to die any more”.
“Mining kills the indigenous people and also kills the people of the city. It’s killing the river, it’s killing the soul of the jungle,” Davi Kopenawa said in a context where illegal mining activities have polluted rivers with mercury and devastated part of the territory where nearly 30,000 indigenous people live.
For his part, Lula da Silva confirmed that “Indigenous peoples occupy 14 percent of what was once 100 percent territory. It is the other 86 percent occupying the land that is theirs.”
According to local media, Operation Yanomami was one of the Lula government’s first acts.
For its part, the Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama) seized 19 tons of cassiterite, three small planes, a tractor, 15 boats, half a kilo of gold and cars; However, federal authorities still do not report how many miners have already left the Yanomami Indigenous Land (TIY) and how many have yet to leave.