April 23, 2022

09:04

Ívina Garcia – From Cenarium

MANAUS – “They are seasoning gasoline with water and giving it to their relatives, so that the relative can drink the gasoline”. The denunciation is from Kadji Kanamary, president of the Kanamary Indigenous Council of Jutaí and Juruá (Cikajú), who reports the invasion of miners in the Indigenous Lands located near Atalaia do Norte, in Amazonas.

The invasion of miners in the Jarinal village was reported by the president of the Council, last Wednesday, 20, where he states that the residents suffered threats so that they would not disclose and denounce the presence of miners in the village. According to Kadji, the men were offering alcohol to the indigenous people, and as soon as they ran out of booze, they mixed water and juice with gasoline and ethanol to offer to the indigenous people. Videos showing miners dancing with the indigenous people were released by the leaders.

In a complaint, the vice president of the Association of Kanamary Vale do Javari (Akavaja), Feliciana Rodrigues Kanamary, after learning about the situation of the villagers, reports that she contacted the head of the Javari Valley Protection Front, Idnilda Obando, and was answered only that “the city of Eirunepé has CTL”, which would be Local Technical Coordination of the National Indian Foundation (Funai). “With this response, we could only ask the Federal Public Ministry (MPF) and the Federal Police for help,” says an excerpt from the document.

Both Akavaja and other indigenous associations denounce the constant threats and invasions by miners on lands where mining is illegal. Also in the document, signed by Feliciana, she says that despite the complaints, nothing is done by Funai, and recalls the promise of a sanitary barrier that never arrived.

“Funai does not take a position in these situations. According to the selection process conducted by Funai, in the year 2021, the Jarinal barrier was supposed to be working, however, the barrier does not exist and is totally abandoned,” she says.

In an audio, sent in groups of indigenous leaders, Kadji Kanamary asks for help from the indigenous people and questions the work of the indigenous protection agencies. “Gather the Funai team to come here in Jarinal village with the utmost urgency. The miner is there every night, every day, he is there in the village of his relatives. Where is Funai? This is very bad for our relatives in Jarinal village,” he says.

Listen:

Insecurity

With the miners inside the indigenous territories, especially in a place like Vale do Javari, where a large portion of the isolated peoples are concentrated, the residents live a feeling of insecurity and abandonment.

“We are at the mercy of diseases, due to contaminated water, we are at the mercy of alcoholism and drugs in the village, the deforestation of our trees, our forest, our indigenous leaders are at risk of political manipulation by miners, our young girls and women are at risk, all the time, of sexual abuse, this situation opens the door to illegal hunting and fishing within our territories, in addition to probable confrontations and deaths of the people of recent contact, Tyowuk Dyapah,” concludes Feliciana.

In contact with the Federal Public Ministry of Amazonas, about the reported complaint, the office of the body informed CENARIUM that “is checking with the office that acts in the case to gather and pass on the most complete information possible as soon as possible. CENARIUM also tried to contact Funai and the Federal Police, cited in the document, but had not received a response as of the publication of this article.

Indigenous invasion

The report of the Kanamary is not an isolated situation. Just this month, two other invasions were reported, one in Xipaia territory in Pará, where a mining raft was seized and seven people were taken away by the Federal Police, and another that resulted in the death of two Yanomami, from Xitei territory in Roraima.

In the first situation, the complaint was also made by indigenous Xipaia people when they noticed the arrival of the machinery in the territory. After the alert, the environmental protection agencies conducted searches on Friday, April 15, inside the Riozinho do Anfrísio and Rio Iriri extractive reserves, but only managed to locate the illegal extraction machine on the morning of April 16. After the flagrante, the police took five adults and two teenagers to the Federal Police headquarters, where they were heard and released.

In the case of the Yanomami, after the execution of two Indians, another five were injured during a conflict between miners and the Tirei community. After noting the occupation by illegal miners, in the region known as Serra dos Surucucus, in Roraima, the Federal Public Ministry (MPF) filed, on March 31, a request to the Justice Department for the Union to combat the actions in the humanitarian crisis in the Yanomami Indigenous Land (TIY).