Brazil President Bolsonaro to keep mining out of indigenous lands in Amazon

Brazillian President Jair Bolsonaro has promised a Yanomani community that he will keep mining out of their reservation in the Amazon. However, he has said that he will seek access to other indigenous lands for commercial agriculture and mining.

Bolsonaro was seen in a video listening to local indigenous leader in Maturaca, an Amazon village in the Yanomami reservation.

In the meeting, which took place on Thursday, the leaders asked Bolsonaro to protect their lands from the threat of mining. A Yanomami warrior presented him with a bunch of long arrows that the president held as he spoke to the community.

"Your wishes will be respected. If you do not want mining, there will be no mining," Bolsonaro said.

But he added that other indigenous people in the Amazon and outside the Amazon wanted to mine their land and grow crops, "and we will respect that right of theirs."

Bolsonaro promised Yanomami people that they wouldn't be forced by law to accept mining on their lands.

"It was very good. He made a speech saying that our territory is not threatened by mining," Jose Mario Goes, head of the Yanomami Association of the River Cauaburi and Tributaries, told Reuters by phone.

Bolsonaro did not discuss the gold rush happening at the eastern end of the Yanomami reservation, in the state of Roraima, where more than 20,000 wildcat miners have invaded protected indigenous lands, bringing in malaria and the risk of COVID-19 infections, as well as incidents of violence.

Bolsonaro visited two indigenous reservations in the Amazon on Thursday for the first time since he became head of state.

But some indigenous leaders had asked him not to visit their lands, complaining that he only met with unrepresentative chiefs in what they said was a photo opportunity for his re-election campaign next year.

Bolsonaro also inaugurated a 20-meter wooden bridge built by the Brazilian army on the Balaio reservation where the Tukano indigenous people live and where major reserves of niobium have been found.

The metal is used to make light-weight steel for jet engines and other special applications. Bolsonaro has regularly mentioned its value in speeches about the untapped riches of the Amazon that he argues Brazil must exploit.

(With inputs from agencies)