Brazil govt invokes medical emergency after increased child deaths

Brazilia: In Brazil, the government has invoked a medical emergency in the Yanomami territory after children from an indigenous community were reportedly dying in considerable numbers due to malnutrition and disease caused by illegal gold mining, Reuters reported.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva issued a decree on Friday saying that the declaration of emergency is to restore health services for the people in the region, who are facing a crisis due to his far-right predecessor Jair Bolsonaro’s doings.

The Amazon journalism platform Sumauma reported that 570 children died out of curable diseases under Bolsonaro’s presidency of four years. The causes were mainly malaria, diarrhoea and malformations caused by mercury used by wildcat gold miners. The report cited data gathered by FOIA.

There were photos of children, women, and the elderly surfaced, in which they were thin and ribs were visible. Following this president, Lula visited the affected region on Saturday.

The president said that what he witnessed in Rorarima, the state where Yanomami is located, was genocide. It was a premeditated crime against the Yanomami people by a government insensitive to suffering, the president said on Twitter.

His government has announced food packages to 26,000 Yanomamis living in the area, a rainforest and tropical savanna.

For decades, illegal gold miners invaded reserved forests, but the same multiplied during Bolsonaro’s tenure after he won in 2018. To win, he promised to allow mining on protected lands and legalise wildcat mining.

There were reports that these miners were involved in organised crimes, attacking the people there with firearms and so.

Lula has promised that the new government will end all kinds of illegal mining and will impose a crackdown on deforestation in the Amazon.