Government sends four tons of food to Yanomami indigenous community
Brazil’s Air Force this weekend shipped about four tons of food to be distributed to an indigenous community in the Yanomami territory in the northern state of Roraima.
The initiative of the federal government comes as an emergency response to the health crisis which last Friday (Jan. 20) prompted the Ministry of Health to declare public health emergency of national importance, allowing the Executive to adopt special measures for the “prevention, control, and containment of risks, damages, and injuries to public health.”
According to the agents, on Saturday (21), when President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva visited capital Boa Vista, 1.26 tons of food had alreadt been shipped to the Kataroa community for distribution, in the region known as Surucucu. On Sunday (22), another 2.50 tons were transported.
According to the Ministry of Health, the supplies are part of approximately 5 thousand kits with staple food items stored at the headquarters of Brazilian indigenous authority FUNAI in Boa Vista. Of the total already available, 4,000 kits will be allocated to the Yanomami territory, and a thousand will go to other communities. In addition, the government announced the delivery of 200 cans of food supplement for children of various ages.
More than 30,400 indigenous people are reported to live in the area set aside by the federal government for the exclusive use of the Yanomami. Motivated by complaints that illegal mining is contaminating the rivers which supply local communities, destroying the forest and affecting the survival conditions of the population, federal officials sent technicians from the Ministry of Health to the area early last week. There were people with malaria, acute respiratory infection, and other illnesses, with no medical assistance provided whatsoever.
