Wapichana will in a few days become the first indigenous person to head the government's indigenous affairs agency Funai, appointed by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who has pledged to expel wildcat miners from protected indigenous lands. Speaking to journalists on an Amazon-based journalism platform called Sumaúma, Wapichana said she could not give details of the imminent operation in order to not alert the miners that have invaded the Yanomami territory.