Indigenous to Latin America, the Yanomami people live between the Orinoco and the Amazon Rivers, victims of wild and illegal mining activities

ROMA – The sanctification of their founder, Giuseppe Allamano, which took place last October 20th was an occasion of great celebration for the Missionaries and the Consolata Missionaries. But their religious family spread throughout the world, more widespread in Global Southalso saw the special day as a great opportunity to bring to international attention some current political or geopolitical issues that few people deal with and which concern the peoples alongside whom they have taken root in little more than a century of life. One of the situations that has always been at the center of missionaries’ attention is that of the indigenous peoples of Latin America, particularly in the Amazon.

The fate of the Yanomami people. That area, the first lung of the world, has been exploited and plundered for centuries and the local populations pay the price and few care about their rights. One of the peoples most marked by exploitation and violence and, not surprisingly, one of the most endowed with resources in an area among the most blessed by every type of wealth, is the Yanomami people, who mostly reside in the area of forest between the basins of the Orinoco and Amazon rivers and the border between Venezuela and Brazil crosses their traditional territory. It is estimated that they have a population, perhaps never counted, of approximately 27,000-32,000 people.

There are 350 communities where 6 different languages ​​are spoken. In an area of ​​9 million hectares, divided into 350 communities where 6 languages ​​are spoken, the Yanomami is one of the most populous communities among the indigenous groups, which continues to suffer violence and atrocities due to the invasion of their territory by the numerous illegal mining activities, linked to the trafficking of weapons, drugs and human beings.

A very serious humanitarian and health crisis. All this is generating a devastating humanitarian and health crisis that goes essentially unnoticed by the world. The worst period were the years of the Bolsonaro government in which attempts were made to make every method of gold extraction legal and allow deportations and expropriations with serious damage to people and the ecosystem. Although the current Lula government has declared a health emergency and is facing the illegal invasion of Yanomami land, which has been threatening the lives of the population and the forest for years, the humanitarian crisis still remains.

Wild mining. Illegal mining and the consequent invasion by veritable armies of miners has grown more than 20 thousand times in 37 years: in 1985 it covered 15 hectares, in 2022 it was 3,278. the total area affected, according to 2024 statistics, is 5,500 hectares. “In the years of the previous government – ​​explains Júlio Ye’kwana, President of theWanasseduume Ye’kwana Association (SEDUUME)invited by the Missionaries of the Consolata to bear his testimony in a series of conferences, one of which in the Press Room of the Chamber of Deputies – we have suffered a lot and the increasing illegal extraction of gold, also thanks to the proposal to legalize it, has devastated the Yanomami land and caused an endless series of other problems, both environmental, such as the pollution of rivers and the contamination of fish, water and soil with mercury, and social, such as sexual exploitation, arms and drug trafficking and violence. Our people are forced to work as slaves and paid minimal amounts of gold to perform extremely dangerous jobs.”

Malaria and respiratory diseases increase. Throughout the area there is an exponential increase in malaria, diarrhea, respiratory diseases and malnutrition. “When parents get sick – Ye’kwana continues – they are unable to work and the whole family is left without food. In recent years, 570 children have died from very trivial diseases.” Ye’kwana also raises an alarm to Europe and our country who risk being complicit in this situation “1.7 tons of gold are sold in Europe, Germany, Portugal, Italy in particular: the supply chain must be traced and transparency guaranteed” .