Illegal miners in Yanomami reservation seek Brazil government help to leave

FILE PHOTO: A mining area is seen in Yanomami indigenous territory, Roraima state, Brazil, February 2, 2023. REUTERS/Amanda Perobelli

BRASILIA (Reuters) - Illegal gold miners blamed for causing a humanitarian crisis on Brazil's largest indigenous reservation are asking authorities to help them leave, one of their leaders and a Brazilian senator said on Monday.

Aware of an imminent military enforcement operation to evict them, Jailson Mesquita, head of the Garimpo é Legal movement (Wildcat Mining Is Legal) called on the government to airlift miners from Yanomami territory or lift a no-fly zone to allow them to fly out on small planes from clandestine airstrips inside the reservation where mining is banned under Brazil's Constitution.