The Brazilian Air Force began mobilizing Wednesday in the Yanomami Indigenous Reserve in a major plan of operations against illegal gold miners.
More than 20,000 wild miners are blamed for bringing disease, violence and famine that have caused a humanitarian crisis in isolated Yanomami villages in Brazil’s largest indigenous reserve.
Defense Minister José Mucio said the military is needed to expel the miners, who are well armed and have helicopters.
“We will soon confront them. We need to eradicate this evil,” Mucio said in an interview with Band TV about the operation the government has called the “Yanomami Shield.”
With army troops on the ground, the navy will patrol rivers and seize mining boats and dredges, while the air force will monitor airspace, intercept suspicious planes and force them to land, he said.
