In January this year, Lula’s government launched a crackdown on illegal mines located across the Portugal-sized Yanomami region. So far, around 80 per cent of the more than 20,000 miners that invaded the territory have been evicted.
First published on Thu 27 May 2021 08.14 EDT
Rare and disturbing aerial photographs have laid bare the devastation being inflicted on Brazilâs largest reserve for indigenous people by thousands of wildcat goldminers whose illegal activities have accelerated under the countryâs far-right leader, Jair Bolsonaro.
garimpeiro prospectors are operating within the Yanomami reserve in northern Brazil using speedboats and light aircraft to penetrate the vast expanse of jungle near the border with Venezuela.
Bolsonaro, who has repeatedly bemoaned the size of the Yanomami territory and been accused of emboldening environmental criminals with his pro-development rhetoric, was due to make a provocative trip to âa village in the reserveâs south-western tipâ on Thursday â his first to an indigenous community since becoming president in January 2019. Yanomami leaders denounced the visit as an unwanted attempt to promote illegal mining in their ancestral land.