Environmental inspectors destroy planes and hijack gold miners’ boats at a local Amazon wildlife sanctuary.

Inspectors from Ibama, the Brazilian Institute of the Environment, have destroyed a plane and a helicopter belonging to illegal miners in the Yanomami Indigenous Reserve, in the interior of the Brazilian state of Roraima, in the heart of the Amazon. It was the first piece of equipment destroyed as part of an operation to expel miners from an indigenous area, which was decided in January by President Lula da Silva’s government and began to take shape this week.

The two planes discovered by Ibama agents during reconnaissance flights were located on secret airstrips opened in the forest by prospectors who used a powerful tractor with caterpillars to clear the path. Other teams of environmental inspectors walked overland, in the middle of dense forest, and set fire to two cars, as well as a tractor and ancillary mining facilities located in the same area.

In another operation, Ibam’s inspectors, supported by National Forces agents, intercepted three modern “voadeira” (high-speed) boats on the Ararikoera River leading to the Yanomami reserve, which were seized, as well as everything they were transporting. These boats contained five thousand liters of fuel used in gold prospecting machines, a ton of various foodstuffs, refrigerators with generators, two firearms and a complex system for installing Internet points that would now be used by federal forces.

This Wednesday, Defense Minister Musiu Monteiro, Human Rights Minister Silvio de Almeida and the commanders of the army, navy and air force, who must stay in the region for at least two days. They will probably go tomorrow to the outpost in the Surukuku area, already in the Yanomami reserve, to assess how best to get the military forces deeper into the forest within a few days and drive out the prospectors who are still there.

The introduction of troops into the jungle is delayed because the federal government is trying to minimize the risk of a large-scale confrontation, since the garimpeiros have powerful weapons and know the region better than the soldiers. Since last Wednesday, air and river traffic has been cut off, and, without supplies and fuel, hundreds of miners have begun to leave the region by boat on alternative rivers and even on foot, which is what the government wanted.

There are between 15,000 and 20,000 miners in the Yanomami reserve, said Justice and Public Safety Minister Flavio Dino, and he hopes 80% of them will have escaped by early next week. To help this exodus, the Air Force changed its tactics this week and began allowing flights, but only to get the miners out of the region.