The Yanomami have protested for years about the devastating impacts the miners have on their communities. The dredges have destroyed the river beds, and the mercury used to separate the gold has contaminated fish and drinking water.
The miners have brought in diseases to which many remote communities have little or no resistance, and have attacked some Yanomami.
Previous operations in the territory have failed to stop illegal goldmining. This time, a spokesman for the federal police said they hoped to ‘cut off the economic motor’ of the miners by targeting those funding them.
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