Woman found dead in Yanomani territory

The mining issue continues to cause problems across Brazilian territory and lives are being lost in this huge dispute over pieces of land: a woman was found dead in a mining area and deaths reach 14 in a week.

The high and dangerous number of deaths in Yanomani territory took on another dimension this Saturday with the death of a woman identified as Jenni Rangel (28 years old), who had marks of violence on her body. The death was the 14th recorded in a week in the territory (since 12 miners and an indigenous person also lost their lives).

The Venezuelan woman, who was married to prospector Joel Perdomo and stepmother to Johandri Perdomo (aged 68 and 24 respectively, who were also murdered in Yanomani Lands) had her body found near a crater where eight prospectors had their lives taken. The body, which had signs of sexual violence and hanging, was found in the Uxiu community during a National Force helicopter flyover (which in turn called the Federal Police about the incident and had the body removed to the IML in Boavista- RR).

According to the investigations, the suspicion is that Jenni was killed along with the other eight miners who were found near the crater. The suspicion is that the attack on the garimpeiros is a response to an attack suffered by the indigenous people in which three indigenous people were shot and one died (the other two are hospitalized in Boa Vista).

The territory of the Yanomani has been a frequent victim of mining activities, including the unrestrained exploitation of minerals that has caused other problems in addition to violence: there are records of diseases and great environmental devastation. The Yanomani Land is now the largest indigenous area in Brazil and has already experienced an increase of around 54% in exploration progress compared to last year

Featured Photo: Woman loses her life in the war between garimpeiros and indigenous people. (Photo: Personal Archive)