The Indigenous Council of Roraima (CIR), an organization that has been fighting for the rights of the indigenous peoples of Roraima for over 52 years, expresses its repudiation of the attacks that occurred over the weekend in the Uxiú community, in the Alto Mucajaí region, within the Yanomami Indigenous Territory, which resulted in the death of an indigenous health agent (AIS) and left others wounded by gunfire. This latest attack is perpetrated by criminals who remain in the indigenous territory.
The CIR (Intergovernmental Council of Yanomami) requests that the federal government reinforce the presence of federal forces and more effective inter-ministerial coordination among the Ministries of Indigenous Peoples, Environment, Health, Justice and Public Security, Defense, and the National Foundation for Indigenous Peoples (Funai), Special Secretariat for Indigenous Health (Sesai), to combat the ongoing criminal activities and provide healthcare assistance to the Yanomami people. It is important to guarantee resources and conditions to remove the invaders, as some communities continue to suffer violence perpetrated by illegal miners.
Similarly, the organization is asking state authorities, especially the government, to take measures to combat illegal mining, which is affecting not only the Yaomami people, but the entire population of Roraima.
We don't want any more news of our relatives continuing to die in their homes at the hands of criminals who keep invading IT. It's long past time to act more forcefully.
In addition to the actions carried out and announced by the federal government, it is necessary to establish a crisis cabinet in Roraima, increase the contingent of the national force, IBAMA (Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources), the Federal Highway Police, and the Federal Police, as well as rigorous monitoring of both airspace and land on the roads that provide access to the Yanomami indigenous territory, through which illegal miners continue to pass freely.
The organization also expresses its solidarity with the Yanomami people for yet another loss of a leader and Indigenous health agent (AIS), and reinforces its commitment to continue pressing the federal government to guarantee the protection of the lives of our relatives and their traditional territory.
Indigenous Council of Roraima, Boa Vista, May 2, 2023.