The airspace of the Yanomami Indigenous Territory, in Roraima, will be closed again on April 6th and no longer on May 6th, as the Brazilian Air Force (FAB) had initially informed. The decision was taken during a meeting between the Ministries of Justice and Public Security and Defense, this Thursday (23).
“It is important to discourage the issue of mining. Evidently, in these last few days, there has been one, two flights at the most. So, we are going to give this deadline for, from the 6th of April, to close completely”, said the Minister of Defense, José Múcio Monteiro.
The Minister of Justice and Public Security, Flávio Dino, assessed that there was a significant reduction in illegal mining in the region, with flights headed by prospectors being reduced to practically zero, in some cases.
“Since there are still two or three areas that people are insisting on [em ficar], in this new phase the corridor will be closed, with regard to air traffic. And now, next week, we are going to intensify the arrests of people who are, unfortunately, breaking the law and mining in Yanomami territory,” he said.
The ministers also announced that the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) is going to carry out a kind of census in the Yanomami territory to identify and collect data.