Unauthorized aircraft — and the countless liters of fuel needed to power them — are the backbone of the shadowy economy of illicit gold mining on Indigenous lands in Brazil's Amazon rainforest.
Some bear signs of violent crashes: caved-in cockpits with wings broken off. Others feature interiors with stripped-out passenger seats in order to load up with more men and women, plus additional motors, fuel, food, and other cargo. Before they were confiscated, the aircraft were allegedly used for flying in and out of illegal gold mining sites.
Drawn by high gold prices, reduced state and federal oversight, and outdated mining legislation, plus pro-mining rhetoric and proposed legislation from far-right President Jair Bolsonaro that would make it legal to mine on reserves, thousands of miners have flocked to the Yanomami reserve in search of the precious metal, exacerbating a longstanding problem that has only grown worse in recent years.
Small aircraft frequently make trips carrying supplies to and illegally mined gold from the Yanomami reserve, which borders Venezuela. Nimbler helicopters used for internal logistics, moving from one mining site to another within the reserve, can quickly hop the border beyond Brazilian authorities’ reach.
The rush for gold and the building of illegal airstrips have created frictions with Indigenous groups and have led to a reported uptick in violence. Last year, miners gunned down two young Yanomami men that were hunting near a clandestine helicopter landing spot. Police investigators found that the main suspect, who wasn’t named, had leased land bordering a protected forest and installed an aviation fuel storage tank. He had permission from the state environmental agency, despite it being illegal, according to the federal police. Investigations said the man used his air taxi company in order to supply wildcat mining operations. Police said those involved include his two children, three others, and frontmen.
In his office in Boa Vista, Roraima state, Alisson Marugal, a federal prosecutor, stood beside a map of the Yanomami reserve and pointed to its outside border. There, he said, are “many more” illegal airstrips, mostly on private properties like farms. Instead, it has become increasingly mechanized. High-powered backhoes manufactured by international brands like Hyundai and Caterpillar are capable of tearing up immense trenches of earth and trees. Prospecting sites in the upper Tapajos River basin, where the Munduruku ethnic group lives, look as though a bomb laid waste to the forest, leaving behind toxic pools.
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