Illegal gold ‘swapped for jabs’ in Brazil
BRASILIA: Federal prosecutors in the Brazilian state of Roraima are investigating reports that illegallymined gold is being exchanged for Covid-19 vaccines in the Yanomami indigenous reserve, the prosecutors office said on Wednesday.
Tribal leaders in the Amazon region have complained of the deals and prosecutors say they will investigate the reports as part of an investigation already under way into the diversion of vaccine shots intended for indigenous people.
Brazil is currently experiencing one of the worst waves of the coronavirus pandemic any country has suffered, and its indigenous people are among the most vulnerable.
The Hutukara Association, which represents the Yanomami people, flagged the issue to prosecutors with the backing of the Instituto Socioambiental, a non-governmental organisation.
The association said a health worker in the Homoxi district gave illegal miners vaccines in exchange for gold. The worker also sold gasoline and a generator to the miners for gold, the association said.
“The Yanomami have long complained that materials and medicines intended for indigenous health are being diverted to wildcat miners,” Hutukara’s Dario Kopenawa Ianomami said in a letter outlining the formal complaints sent to prosecutors and the Health Ministry.
Another case involved a separate health worker who met miners at night and gave them medicine in exchange for gold, the association said. Investigations are continuing.