The message was delivered to more than 70,000 revelers and millions watching live on television

RIO DE JANEIRO — Carnival dancers have taken the biggest stage in Rio de Janeiro to pay tribute to Brazil’s largest Indigenous group and pressure President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to deliver on promises to eradicate illegal mining.

Carnival has long been a platform for samba schools to protest. Percussionists had “Miners out” written across the skins of their drums as participants marched through the Sambadrome on Sunday evening, delivering their message to more than 70,000 revelers and millions watching live on television.

“The chance that’s left for us is an Indigenous Brazil,” they said as part of Salgueiro’s samba school’s tribute to the Yanomami — one year after Lula declared a public health emergency for the group in the Amazon. They suffer from malnutrition and diseases such as malaria as a consequence of illegal mining.

“Ours is a cry for help from Brazil and the world in general,” said Davi Kopenawa, a Yanomami leader and shaman who advised the samba school. “My hope is that the world, upon hearing our call, will put pressure on the Brazilian government to remove all the miners, destroyers of our mother Earth, who are soiling the water and killing fish.”

Kopenawa paraded with feathered armbands and headdress, plus a beaded necklace depicting a jaguar. Thirteen other Yanomami participated.

Sônia Guajajara, who leads the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples created in 2022 under Lula, congratulated Kopenawa and Salgueiro on Monday for their efforts recounting the group’s long struggle, from colonization to more recent efforts to repeal Indigenous land rights.

read more: https://ictnews.org/news/parade-makes-plea-to-stop-illegal-mining-in-indigenous-lands