Was there a genocide of Yanomami indigenous people by members of the far-right government of Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil?
The question became a judicial matter this week, when the Brazilian Federal Supreme Court (STF) asked to open an investigation into the suspicion of this and other crimes against the ethnic group with the largest indigenous reserve in the country.
The order was issued by Luis Roberto Barroso, STF magistrate, on Monday in the midst of the health emergency that the new government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has declared for the Yanomami community.
This indigenous people faces serious problems in the Amazon region ranging from malnutrition to respiratory infections or malaria, as well as threats by illegal mining groups operating on their landsaccording to authorities and specialists who recently visited them.
Different Brazilian and international institutions called attention to what was happening with the Yanomami in recent years, without obtaining satisfactory answers.
Bolsonaro, for his part, has suggested that there are political motivations behind the crises of the Yanomami people and maintained that his government provided aid in indigenous territories.
There are several keys to understanding the motives and scope of the investigation ordered by the Supreme Court.
What is the request based on?
Barroso asked to investigate “the possible participation of Jair Bolsonaro government officials in the practice, in theory, of the crimes of genocide, disobedience, violation of judicial secrecy, and environmental crimes related to the life, health, and safety of various indigenous communities.” ”.
And it determined the sending to the authorities of documents that, in its opinion, “suggest a picture of absolute insecurity of the indigenous peoples involved, as well as the occurrence of action or omission, partial or total, by federal authorities, aggravating such a situation.” ”.
The names of those investigated were not revealed because the process takes place in secret.
But the magistrate indicated as an example that the then Brazilian Minister of Justice, Anderson Torres, published in the Official Gazette the date and time of a secret operation against illegal mining in a Yanomami territory, which would have alerted the invaders and made action difficult. .
Barroso maintains that the facts “illustrate a very serious and worrying picture, as well as the alleged practice of multiple illegalities, with the participation of high federal authorities.”
The investigations will be carried out by the Attorney General of the Republic (PGR), the Military Public Ministry, the Ministry of Justice and Public Security, and the Federal Police.
What is a genocide?
The International Criminal Court (ICC) defines genocide as “the specific intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group by killing its members or by other means”.
The ICC, based in The Hague, is preliminarily evaluating two complaints against Bolsonaro for alleged crimes of genocide in the covid-19 pandemic and for the protection that indigenous people received in his government.
The complaints were filed by the Association of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (Apib) and the Arns commission, a civil organization made up of lawyers and intellectuals.
Jurists consulted by BBC News Brazil point out that there are sufficient elements to initiate an investigation like the one ordered by the Supreme Court, but that Evidence is needed to open the way to possible trials.
Sylvia Steiner, a jurist and the only Brazilian who was a judge at the Hague court between 2003 and 2012, explains that “genocide is not just any murder.”
“It has to be shown that there really was genocidal intent, the intent to totally or partially destroy that community, whether for reasons of religion, ethnicity, race or nationality,” he says.
And he adds that otherwise, it could be a crime against humanity, “which is just as serious” but is not provided for in Brazilian law.
“For now, there are no proven facts. There are some indications in relation to the genocide. And this is always complicated, because you have to show that there was an intention to eliminate the Yanomami from the face of the Earth”, explains Steiner.
Lawyer Belisário dos Santos Junior, from the International Commission of Jurists, recalls that Brazil has had a law on genocide since 1956 that “recognizes not only direct action, but also incitement to genocide.”
And he argues that Bolsonaro appears to have taken risks, particularly because of his “obsessions” with mining.
“It is not normal for a people to be left without medical assistance, without the minimum conditions for survival,” says Santos Junior, who is a member of the Arns commission.
“The indigenous people were suffocated in such a way that the deaths and the reduction of the group fit, from my point of view, into the description of genocide due to the actions or inactions of the then President of the Republic,” he maintains.
Mining in sight
Judge Barroso also ordered all miners to withdraw from Yanomami, Karipuna, Kayapó and other indigenous peoples’ territories.
Lula’s government has called on the Army, Navy and Air Force to participate in joint actions to block the routes used by illegal mining groups on Yanomami land.
The Brazilian Air Force planned to begin implementing this Wednesday the restriction of airspace in these indigenous territories.
“The presence of illegal mining is very strong and it will be stopped,” Brazilian Defense Minister José Múcio Monteiro said on Tuesday.
And he announced that next week he will visit the state of Roraima, bordering Venezuela and the center of the crisis, with the commanders of the Armed Forces.
Different organizations have warned that illegal mining skyrocketed in the Yanomami indigenous reserve during the Bolsonaro government.
Deforestation linked to illegal mining on those lands increased 308% between October 2018 and December 2022when it reached 1,782 hectares of jungle, the non-governmental organization Instituto Socioambiental indicated this week based on satellite measurements made by the Yanomami themselves.
The Yanomami reserve covers about 10 million hectares where about 27,000 indigenous people live.
During his presidency, Bolsonaro spoke several times about mining on indigenous lands, and his government proposed a bill that would make the practice possible.
In March 2022, for example, the then president declared that “the Indians want the internet, they want to explore their land legally, not only for agriculture, but also for mining.”
“The Amazon is a very rich area. In Roraima there is a periodic table underground”, added Bolsonaro.
Santos Junior points out that “the miners are taking over the areas, deforesting the jungle, invading basic health units.”
Lack of medicines and food
The Federal Public Ministry also carried out operations to investigate the diversion of medicines in Yanomami territory.
According to the agency, only 30% of the more than 90 types of medicines that should be supplied were delivered in 2022.
Prosecutors claim that the vermifuge diversion (for parasitic infestations) has prevented adequate treatment for 10,000 of the 13,000 children living in that region.
There are also complaints about disruption of food supply.
Alisson Marugal, a prosecutor in Roraima, said the Ministry of Health cut off food supplies to indigenous people at state health posts in 2020, without giving explanations.
According to a government calculation, 570 Yanomami children have died in the last four years.
The panorama of cases and deaths due to malnutrition and malaria led the Ministry of Health to decree the health emergency in Yanomami territory on January 21, already during Lula’s government.
After visiting Roraima in person in January, Lula said he had seen a “genocide” and a “premeditated crime” against the Yanomami that he tacitly attributed to the Bolsonaro government.
Among the emergency measures, the deployment of health professionals and the creation of field hospitals to care for patients were announced.
According to the secretary of Indigenous Health of the ministry, Ricardo Weibe Tapeba, more than a thousand people were rescued from the area in a situation of extreme vulnerability.
What does Bolsonaro say?
When the health emergency came to light in recent days, the former president posted messages on the Telegram messaging application referring to the issue.
Bolsonaro described the denunciation of the Yanomami crisis as a “farce of the left” and said that his government carried out 20 health actions between 2020 and 2022 that brought specialized care within indigenous territories, in remote places and with limited access.
According to the former president, who has been in the United States since the end of his term, more than 449,000 indigenous people were benefited with 60,000 consultations.
Bolsonaro also maintained that the federal government sent 971,200 units of medicines and 586,200 units of personal protection, totaling 1.5 million supplies in these operations.
Although BBC News Brasil tried to contact Bolsonaro through advisers, former ministers and relatives to give him a position regarding all the points and accusations, he did not receive a response until the original publication of this article.
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