Hunger and Malaria: The Gold Rush Causes the Yanomami Disease

The Yanomami has been hit twice in recent years: while health care has eroded on the one hand, the burden has increased on the other. Not only because of the coronavirus, which was able to spread unchecked in indigenous areas, but also because of the massive influx of gold miners into the Brazilian Amazon. in remote areas It contains eight isolated peoples, control is incomplete and corruption is rampant. Goldsmiths, jewelers, wealthy backers – they all make a lot of business. Gold diggers, Garimpeiros, who toil in illegal mines, deliver goods and often risk their health.

On tribal lands, the number of gold opportunities increased more than sixfold between 2010 and 2021. Particularly in the Yanomami territory, the largest indigenous region in Brazil, which stretches across the states of Roraima and Amazonas and the border of Venezuela, mines are being dug in the jungle. According to official figures, the number of gold miners has temporarily increased to 25,000.

Forests were over-hunted and rivers poisoned

“Deforestation and digging for mineral resources also contribute directly to malnutrition,” says ethnologist Gabriel Herzog Schroeder, who has conducted research primarily with the Yanomami in Venezuela for nearly 40 years. “The situation in eastern Brazil, where Garimbiros is flooded, is tragic.” Here, the indigenous population suffers from the worst malnutrition ever recorded among the indigenous communities of America. There were no starving people in the far west. However, people do not have enough gardens to live in. They are at the disposal of Brazilian institutions and consume chicken, rice and beans.”

This also changes their culture. “Many indigenous peoples have largely abandoned their traditional subsistence economy, especially in the regions on the periphery of the so-called civilization. Of course, this makes them easy prey for the promises of the invaders.”