(Rio de Janeiro) Illegal gold panning rose to record levels last year in Brazil’s largest indigenous reservation, in a “climate of permanent terror”, according to a report published on Monday.
Posted yesterday at 7:21 p.m.
The area affected by “garimpo”, the Brazilian term used for these wild gold mines, increased by 46% last year compared to 2020 in Yanomami territory, to reach 3,272 hectares in total.
This is the largest annual increase since records began in 2018, according to the report by the Hutukara Yanomami (Hay) association.
“We are living through the worst moment since this indigenous reserve was delimited and approved 30 years ago”, denounces this association, in its document of more than a hundred pages based on satellite images and interviews with the indigenous populations.
The Yanomami Reserve covers 9.7 million hectares in northern Brazil, near the border with Venezuela, and is home to some 29,000 indigenous people.
“Beyond deforestation and river pollution, gold panning in Yanomami territory has caused an explosion in cases of malaria and other infectious diseases”, adds the report, also evoking “a frightening increase in violence against the natives”, including rape.
Testimonies quoted by the document evoke the difficulties encountered by indigenous populations to feed themselves due to the destruction of the tropical forest where they normally find their means of subsistence.
Some find themselves forced to work in illegal gold mines in exchange for meals.
“Terrible Threats”
The testimonies also tell that artisanal gold miners, often linked to organized crime, ask families to deliver young girls to them for sex in exchange for food.
“Yanomami women see gold miners as terrible threats”, insists the Hay association, which denounces “a climate of permanent terror”.
Brazilian government authorities did not respond to requests from AFP to comment on the report.
Federal prosecutors have said they will investigate the report’s allegations with a view to filing possible criminal charges. They also said they had already filed an appeal last month to compel the government to “resume protective actions and police operations against illegal gold diggers in the Yanomami reserve”.
Illegal gold panning has intensified in recent years in the Amazon with the surge in the price of gold.
This activity has caused the deforestation of 125 km2 in 2021, an area greater than that of intramural Paris.
Far-right President Jair Bolsonaro is accused by indigenous defense associations of wanting to force Parliament to approve laws aimed at authorizing mining activities in indigenous territories.