Lula accuses Bolsonaro of 'genocide' against rainforest tribe in Brazil

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has accused former President Jair Bolsonaro’s far-right administration of committing genocide against a tribal people in the

Amazon where more than 500 indigenous children are believed to have died in the past few years. The Yanomami people live in Brazil's northern state of Roraima, which

borders Venezuela and Guyana. It is the country's largest indigenous territory, according to the Guardian. Lula visited the Amazon state on Saturday to observe the predicaments of

the tribe, where government neglect and mining and logging have left the people in crisis. SANTOS DENIES PERFORMING AS DRAG QUEEN IN BRAZIL BEAUTY PAGEANTS Lula's

government declared a medical emergency after hundreds of Yanomami children died from malnutrition and 16 starving people in need of urgent care needed to be airlifted, according

to BBC News. "More than a humanitarian crisis, what I saw in Roraima was a genocide," Lula tweeted on Sunday. "A premeditated crime against the Yanomami, committed by a

government insensitive to the suffering of the Brazilian people." Bolsonaro's regime weakened environmental protections for the Amazonian people, and critics said his

actions and disregard for the tribal people led to increased illegal activity in the region, including illegal gold mining which may have contaminated drinking water, BBC News

reported. The British-based news outlet estimates that about 20,000 illegal miners work in the Yanomami reserve. Two years ago, illegal miners opened fire with automatic

weapons on the Amazonian people.