Yanomami tribe hails Lula’s fight against illegal mining in the Amazon

Two years after Brazil’s president vowed to bring the Yanomami tribe back from the brink, hunger and infant mortality rates are falling

The Yanomami villagers had trekked for days through some of Brazil’s most secluded jungles to reach the assembly, their traditional clothing announcing an existence deeply entwined with nature that stretched back thousands of years.

“Today the Yanomami people are no longer crying because our children are no longer dying,” Hekurari told the meeting, recalling how his people had been pushed to the brink of destruction in recent years as tens of thousands of illegal miners invaded their lands and Brazil’s previous government abandoned them to their fate.