A Brazilian federal court has sentenced a key financier to more than 22 years in prison. He was found guilty of leading an illegal mining operation in the Yanomami Indigenous Territory, a huge protected area in the Amazon Rainforest that has been devastated by pollution, disease and deforestation. Rodrigo Martins de Mello, known as Rodrigo Cataratas, was convicted on charges of leading a criminal organization, money laundering, illegal mining on protected Indigenous land and other crimes. The mining severely degraded the Indigenous territory, causing disease and death for locals. The judge ordered Mello to pay more than 31.7 million reais ($6.1 million) in damages to the Yanomami people. “Justice must hold people accountable for the impacts and for the deaths of the Yanomami people, because we did nothing wrong,” Waihiri Hekurari Yanomami, the president of the Urihi Yanomami Association, told Mongabay in an audio message. “They are the ones who came and poisoned the children and the rivers. And until today, we are still paying a very, very high price. ” Illegal gold mining in the Yanomami territory surged more than 300% between 2018 and 2022, following the election of Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro, who publicly supported mining on Indigenous land. Thousands of miners invaded Yanomami land, and with them came a 330% increase in deaths from malnutrition, mostly among young Indigenous children. A 2023 health survey found that almost 70% of the Yanomami people had mercury in their bodies. Mercury is commonly used to amalgamate gold. Miners also…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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