Gold miners bring fresh wave of suffering to Brazil's Yanomami

Illegal miners are detained by a members of the Special Inspection Group from the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA) during an operation against illegal mining in Yanomami Indigenous land, Roraima state, Brazil, December 5, 2023. A year after President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva declared a humanitarian crisis among the Yanomami and vowed zero tolerance for illegal mining, environmental enforcers warn that Brazil is jeopardizing last year's hard-won progress, when about 80 percent of roughly 20,000 wildcatters were ousted from the Portugal-sized reservation. As the Brazilian military has rolled back its support for the government crackdown, the gold-seeking miners have come back, they say, making fresh incursions into Yanomami land. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino

YANOMAMI INDIGENOUS LAND, Brazil (Reuters) - Brazil is losing the upper hand in its battle to save the Yanomami Indigenous people, who are dying from flu, malaria and malnutrition brought into their vast, isolated Amazon rainforest reservation by resurgent illegal miners.

A year after President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva declared a humanitarian crisis among the Yanomami and vowed zero tolerance for illegal mining, environmental enforcers warn that Brazil is jeopardizing last year's hard-won progress, when about 80% of roughly 20,000 wildcatters were ousted from the Portugal-sized reservation.