Brazil’s government has passed a new bill as a big operation to remove the illegal miners on Indigenous land in the Amazon forest. At the end of January, the new government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Slavia made the announcement of this operation. There are approximately 20,000 illegal gold miners and it is believed that they are on the Yanomami reserve in northern Brazil. These gold miners have polluted the land and rivers on the reserve, and it has been leading to widespread hunger and disease. High levels of mercury, that is used to process ore, are a contribution to polluting the river. 

In recent years before the Luiz Inácio Lula presidency the number of miners jumped dramatically because the former President Jair Bolsonaro did little to reduce or stop this illegal activity.

President Lula has declared this a medical emergency due to massive malnutrition and malaria. Hundreds of agents have cut off fuel and food supply routes and a no-fly zone over the era.