BRASILIA, April 30 (Reuters) - Brazil will increase
efforts to remove the remainder of wildcat miners from
indigenous lands following a shooting attack by invaders that
killed a Yanomami indigenous person and left two others
seriously injured, the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples said on
Sunday.
An inter-ministerial delegation is en route to Roraima state
to "further reinforce actions to remove criminals," the ministry
said on Twitter.
Since President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva took office in
January, its administration has announced actions to remove
thousands of illegal miners from the country's largest
indigenous reservation in northern Brazil.
However, "many coordinated actions are still needed," the
ministry said, noting it has requested support from the Ministry
of Justice to investigate the shooting.
Federal Police said in note it was aware that indigenous
individuals allegedly clashed with miners on Saturday. The
authorities are working to identify, locate and apprehend those
responsible for the crimes, it added.
The Yanomami people, estimated to number about 28,000, have
faced a humanitarian crisis, including disease, sexual abuse and
violence, due to the invasion of over 20,000 miners in their
region, leading to malnutrition and deaths.
Lula's government declared a medical emergency for the
Yanomamis earlier this year and pledged zero tolerance for
mining on indigenous reservation land protected by Brazil's
Constitution.
(Reporting by Marcela Ayres; Editing by Richard Chang)
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