Brazil is preparing a task force of armed forces, police and government agencies to soon launch an operation to expel illegal gold miners who invaded the Yanomami Indigenous reservation, officials said on Tuesday.
More than 20,000 wildcat miners are blamed for bringing disease, violence and hunger that have caused a humanitarian crisis for isolated Yanomami villages on Brazil's largest Indigenous reservation, on the border with Venezuela.
Defence Minister Jose Mucio said the military is needed to drive out the miners, who are well-armed and have helicopters.
"We will soon confront them. We need to root out this evil," Mucio said in an interview with Band TV about the operation that the government has called "Yanomami Shield."
With army troops on the ground, the navy will patrol rivers and confiscate miners' boats and dredges while the air force will control the airspace, intercept suspicious planes and force them to land, he said.
Joenia Wapichana, who in a few days will become the first Indigenous person to head the government's Indigenous affairs agency, Funai, said President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has pledged to end illegal mining on protected reservation lands.
Wapichana said she could not give details of the imminent operation in order to not alert the miners who have invaded the Yanomami territory.
"The message from President Lula is that it will happen soon and cannot delay long," she told journalists on the Amazon-based journalism platform Sumaúma in a webinar co-hosted by environmental NGO Mighty Earth.
Wapichana said the task force, as in past offensives against illegal miners on Indigenous lands, will involve the Federal Police, environmental protection agency Ibama, Funai and several ministries, as well as the military.
Half of the 100 tonnes of gold produced each year by Brazil, or about 52 tonnes, is illegally mined, and much of that is exported to Switzerland after it is laundered through Brazilian financial brokers, the mining industry lobby Ibram said.
The miners have polluted waters with mercury used to separate metal from ore and earth. They fly supply planes to clandestine airstrips in the jungle and use the rivers to take heavier machinery and fuel to their prospects, which are muddy ponds where they dredge for gold in forest clearings.
Medical studies show that the mercury used by the miners has killed the fish and contaminated the water that the Yanomami rely on.
The miners are increasingly associated with well-armed gangs that have terrorized Indigenous communities that for the first time cannot feed themselves, resulting in widespread malnutrition and deaths among the 28,000 Yanomami.
Lula last week declared a medical emergency in the Yanomami territory. On Monday, in a first step of operation Yanomami Shield, his government ordered a no-fly airspace over the reservation and steps to block river traffic heading to gold prospects.
Lula's right-wing predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, advocated mining on protected Indigenous lands, and his government turned a blind eye to invasions of Indigenous reservations by wildcat miners and illegal loggers.
"We are in a new era," Wapichana said. Those responsible for the humanitarian crisis the Yanomami are suffering will be punished for negligence, she said, and perhaps for committing genocide.
A $2.14-billion federal loan for an Ottawa-based satellite operator has Canadian politicians arguing about whether American billionaire Elon Musk poses a national security risk.
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Twenty-seven year Â鶹ӰÊÓ reporter and anchor John Vennavally-Rao shares his story of what it was like to have an ostomy bag as part of his health-care battle. 'I’m grateful for what it did to extend my life,' he writes in a personal column for CTVNews.ca.
The British Columbia election campaign is set to officially start today, with Lt.-Gov. Janet Austin issuing the writ for the Oct. 19 vote.
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The British Columbia election campaign is set to officially start today, with Lt.-Gov. Janet Austin issuing the writ for the Oct. 19 vote.
A sea lion swam free after a rescue team disentangled it near Vancouver Island earlier this week.
A northern Ontario man is facing a $12,000 fine after illegally shooting a moose near the Batchawan River.
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Donald Trump returned to North Carolina on Saturday, stumping in the southern battleground state with direct appeals to women, claiming he would be a better champion for them than U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, who is vying to become the first female president.
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The more Chelsea Walsh talked to the eccentric fellow American who seemed to pop up in every square and cobblestone street of Ukraine's capital, the more she got creeped out.
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Lebanese authorities on Thursday banned walkie-talkies and pagers from being taken on flights from Beirut airport, the National News Agency reported, after thousands of such devices exploded during a deadly attack on Hezbollah this week.
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The St. Clair College golf teams were successful at the Niagara Knights Invitational tournament on Friday.
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Despite the heavy rain, plenty of muscle turned up for United Way’s annual Pull the Bus fundraiser in Lethbridge Friday.
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Jim Lester’s farm hopped on the cow-cuddling trend in early August, and his time slots have been pretty well sold out ever since.
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