May 6, 2022

11:05

Bruno Pacheco – Cenarium Magazine

MANAUS – Representative Joênia Wapichana (Rede-RR), author of the request for the creation of a working group to monitor the situation of the Yanomami indigenous people in Roraima, defended on Wednesday, 5, that measures are taken as soon as possible. To the CENARIUM MAGAZINE, the first indigenous woman elected to the House of Representatives said that the indigenous peoples’ right to life is at risk.

“It is necessary that the authorities can take action as soon as possible, because what is at risk is life, the main good of the person, the right to live. The Yanomami, like any Brazilian citizen, have this right as a priority also within their lands, with their own cultures and customs, and this is a constitutional protection established by law. Indigenous life also matters,” declared the parliamentarian.

In an interview with CENARIUM, Joênia Wapichana spoke of the worrisome situation amid the worsening of illegal mining in Roraima, on Yanomami land. The parliamentarian said it is absurd and unacceptable what has been happening to the indigenous people of the region, especially against children and adolescents sexually assaulted by miners.

“The situation of the Yanomami indigenous people of Roraima has been very worrying, in the sense that the impact of illegal mining has been worsening and, more recently, due to the reports that the Hutukara Association and the indigenous leaders themselves have seen. It is absurd and unacceptable this issue of children, girls and young adolescents being victims of rape, in addition to the disappearance of the indigenous community”, lamented Joênia Wapichana.

The parliamentarian stressed the importance of investigating human rights violations and violations against indigenous peoples, in order to halt the invasions of protected lands. For lawmaker Joênia Wapichana, the creation of the working group in the House will seek to understand what happened to the Yanomami indigenous people who disappeared from the Aracaçá Community, where the 12-year-old girl lived with her family.

“It is important to investigate and find solutions to curb this violence, which is why the working group was created within the Commission on Constitution and Justice and Citizenship (CCJ) of the Federal House, so that parliamentarians can analyze and propose draft legislation to advance the protection of indigenous lands and contain this violence that we are living and monitoring,” she said.

The Yanomami

The case of the 12-year-old girl was denounced last week by indigenous leader Junior Hekurari Yanomami. On social networks, Junior reported that the girl’s death occurred when a group of men from the mines invaded the Aracaçá Community, in the region of Waikás and Palimiú, and took the young girl and two other women. The kidnapping attempt resulted in the disappearance of a 4 year old child, daughter of one of the adults, who disappeared into the Uraricoera river.

It is suspected that the child and the mother were trying to defend themselves from the miners when the woman’s daughter fell off balance from the boat they were sailing in. The indigenous people, disgusted and upset by the situation, were told not to react because the miners might be heavily armed.

Days after the death of the girl, the indigenous community was destroyed by fire and the 25 residents of the region disappeared. According to Júnior Yanomami, the girl’s body may have been cremated, as part of a common and traditional funeral ritual of the ethnic group. Furthermore, when a relative dies, the indigenous people usually leave the village where they lived.

Apib at the STF

In a petition addressed to Minister Luís Roberto Barroso of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (Apib) requested the resumption of emergency operations against illegal mining in the Yanomami Land, in Roraima, and the destruction, within 60 days, of airstrips used exclusively by miners.

The 33-page document is signed by lawyers Luiz Henrique Eloy Amado and Maurício Serpa França, coordinator and legal advisor, respectively, of Apib. The petition asks for the complete destruction of mining equipment and aircraft, and that the private airfields in the region be indicated and inspected, informing whether they comply with the applicable legislation, as well as what measures have been taken in relation to the irregular ones. Other requests can be checked here.