State of Roraima
Federal intervention cut Yanomami illegal mining 94% by 2025—but Roraima's 76% vote for pro-garimpo Bolsonaro reveals how extraction economies create political resistance to conservation.
Roraima presents Brazil's starkest conflict between Indigenous rights and extractive economics. The Yanomami Indigenous Territory—9.6 million hectares spanning Roraima and Amazonas—experienced a 94% reduction in illegal mining areas between March 2024 and February 2025, dropping from 4,570 to 269 hectares following federal intervention.
The Government House established in February 2024 conducted 4,130 operations, spending R$1.2 billion on enforcement and community support. Results appeared: deaths dropped 27% in 2024's first half versus 2023, with dramatic reductions in malnutrition (-68%), respiratory infections (-53%), and malaria (-35%). But ecological damage persists: "The waters are poisoned and there are no fish. Our people believe the earth has been contaminated."
Local economics explain resistance. Roraima voted 76% for Bolsonaro in 2022—Brazil's strongest support for a president who endorsed garimpo (artisanal mining). With large territorial portions in Indigenous reserves, the local economy historically depended on gold. Drug trafficking networks now exploit mining's informal infrastructure, complicating enforcement.
November 2024 seizures of 21 kilograms of gold ($10 million) demonstrate the stakes. The 84% collapse in legal gold production from control measures suggests much extraction operated illegally. Roraima demonstrates how economic dependency on extraction creates political constituencies that resist conservation—even when federal intervention temporarily succeeds.