Humanitarian crisis haunts Brazil’s Indigenous Struggle Day
The creation the Ministry of the Indigenous Peoples, headed by Sonia Guajajara—Brazil’s first indigenous minister—and the leadership of national indigenous authority Funai in the hands of Joenia Wapichana—also an indigenous woman—unveil a new phase in the history of Brazil’s indigenous policy and give a special significance to February 7—the National Day of the Struggle of the Indigenous Peoples.The date was introduced back in 2008 as a way to bring visibility to the circumstances facing indigenous people in Brazil, who still suffer from the effects of illegal mining and poor conditions in health care and sanitation.The minister of the indigenous peoples referred to the illegal mining in the Yanomami indigenous territory as devastating. She spent Sunday night (Feb. 5) at the Surucucu b...