Brazil: Brazil’s new President, Mr. Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, has accused former President Mr. Jair Bolsonaro’s administration of “committing genocide against the Yanomami people of the Amazon.”

Recently, the Ministry of Health declared a medical emergency in the Yanomami territory, the country’s largest indigenous reservation bordering Venezuela, following reports of children dying of malnutrition and other diseases caused by illegal gold mining.

Mr. Lula visited the Amazon state of Roraima to denounce the plight of the Yanomami, whose supposedly protected lands fell into crisis due to government ignorance and the explosion of illegal mining.

“More than a humanitarian crisis, what I saw in Roraima was a genocide. A premeditated crime against the Yanomami, committed by a government impervious to the suffering of the Brazilian people,” Mr. Lula tweeted  after visiting an overcrowded clinic for Yanomami patients in Roraima’s capital, Boa Vista.

“As well as the disregard and neglect of the last government the main cause of this genocide is the invasion of 20,000 illegal miners, whose presence was encouraged by the ex-president. These miners poison rivers with mercury, causing destruction and death. There will be no more genocides,” the President stated.

The president promised that the new government will put an end to illegal gold mining as it moves to crack down on illegal deforestation in the Amazon, which surged to a 15-year high under Bolsonaro.

Recently, the Justice Minister, Mr. Flavio Dino, commented that he would order a federal police investigation into “strong indications” the Yanomami had suffered crimes including genocide, meaning the deliberate attempt to partially or completely destroy an ethnic, national, racial or religious group.

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