Air Force starts delivering food baskets to Yanomami

The Brazilian Air Force has begun distributing 15 thousand basic food baskets in the Yanomami indigenous land, as part of Operation Catrimani, of the Armed Forces.

The kits will be dropped on the indigenous land by March 31 by six aircraft. Helicopters are also being used to assist in the distribution.

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On Friday (Jan. 19), Roraima received the first 600 baskets delivered by the national indigenous agency Funai. They arrived at Boa Vista Air Base, from where they were flown to the support base in the Surucucu indigenous area.

The distribution comes after the Ministry of Defense changed its position. In November, the ministry had reported to the Supreme Court that it was not “primarily or immediately” responsible for distributing food baskets to the Yanomami. The stance changed after a ministerial meeting on January 9. However, the ministry said its role is “temporary and episodic,” adding that the measure takes place on an “emergency basis.”

Last week, Minister of the Indigenous Peoples Sônia Guajajara said that the Yanomami people’s humanitarian crisis will take decades to resolve. Even though 80 percent of the illegal miners have left the region, criminal organizations remain in the area, and the indigenous people suffer from malnutrition.