(Brasilia) The Brazilian prosecution has announced the opening of an investigation into suspicions of endangering indigenous Yanomami and Yekwana, who could have been exposed to COVID – 19 during a military mission.
Posted on July 3 2020 at 16 h 58
France Media Agency
According to the Federal Prosecutor's Office (MPF), this mission, which took place on 30 June and 1 er July in the state of Roraima (north), in the presence of journalists from a dozen media, including AFP, could have taken place without prior authorization from the natives and in violation of the rules of physical distancing.
This parquet investigation, announced late Thursday, was motivated by a complaint by Junior Yanomami, president of the Yanomami Indigenous Health Council (Condisi-Y).
“Isolated natives are extremely vulnerable to external pathogens, which is why contact [de membres de la mission] can be considered a crime against public health,” he said in his complaint.
Junior Yanomami also expressed concern about the distribution during this mission of chloroquine tablets, “whose efficacy against the coronavirus has never been proven”.
In Brazil, its use is however recommended by the ministry, including to treat mild symptoms of COVID – 19, subject to agreement between the doctor and his patient.
This mission to three indigenous communities near the Venezuelan border was officially aimed at prevention against the virus, with the distribution of protective equipment, rapid screening tests and medicines, including 16 000 chloroquine tablets. All the tests carried out in the villages were negative.
PHOTO NELSON ALMEIDA, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
A soldier distributes masks to members of the Yanomami tribe.
The AFP team, like the twenty journalists on site, had to pass COVID detection tests – 19 just before departure and strictly observed on the spot the rules of physical distancing and wearing a mask, like all AFP journalists to guarantee their safety like that of people with which they are contacting.
Defense Minister Fernando Azevedo, who came to observe the mission on Wednesday, assured that the spread of the pandemic among the natives was “controlled”.
A declaration disputed by several associations, such as the Indigenous Council of Roraima (CIR).
“Minister, it is we who live this reality on a daily basis! COVID – 19 is spreading more and more in the indigenous communities every day and this worries us ”, reacted CIR in a press release.
Junior Yanomami told AFP that 160 members of the Yanomami people had been infected with coronavirus, that four of them had died, not counting three other suspicious deaths.
Vice-Admiral Carlos Chagas, spokesman for the Ministry of Defense, told reporters on Friday that the complaint seemed “completely irrational” to him.
“This surprises me for several reasons. How can an organization concerned with the plight of the natives oppose the presence of people who have come to treat the natives? He asked.
The Yanomami territory, which extends over 96 000 km 2 in the middle of the Amazon rainforest, is regularly invaded by illegal gold washers, whose presence represents an increased risk during the pandemic.
