Brazil’s Lula pledges to eliminate illegal mining, help Yanomami

Lula didn’t give a time frame nor specific details on what measures will be taken but said the issue of illegal mining in Brazil will be solved. The poor health of local indigenous people surprised the president, he said, mentioning he saw children that seemed very weak. “That’s inhuman,” he said.

Indigenous people living in the Amazon rainforest have been suffering from malnutrition and hunger as mining activities invade their territories and cause contamination of soil and river water.

The government on Friday declared a public health emergency for the Yanomami population in Brazil’s Amazon, where an illegal gold rush is fueling a surge in the destruction of their land. According to the Indigenous People Minister Sonia Guajajara, who was in Boa Vista with Lula, 570 Yanomami children have died during Brazil’s past administration, Estadao newspaper reported.