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Brazilian Special Forces Torch Illegal Tin Mine

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We accompanied Brazil’s environmental special forces 250 miles into the Amazon rainforest to search for illegal mines, which have been threatening the Indigenous Yanomami people.

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The mines have destroyed parts of the forest, poisoned water with mercury and set off a humanitarian crisis for the Yanomamis, cutting their food supplies and spreading malaria.

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The new president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has made the crisis the top priority in his push to stop the destruction of the Amazon.

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At the mines, the federal agents doused the machinery, which is highly expensive to transport into the rainforest, in diesel fuel.

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Then they set it aflame.

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At one mine, a nearby Indigenous village was so close that a group of Yanomamis emerged from the forest, carrying machetes and bows and arrows.

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As we departed, it became clear from the sky that the Yanomami villages were surrounded by a string of illegal mines.

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