Latin America
Related: About this forumMiners' attack on Yanomami Amazon tribe 'kills dozens' (BBC)
An attack by gold miners on a group of Yanomami tribespeople in Venezuela has left up to 80 people dead, according to campaign groups.
The attack is reported to have taken place last month in the remote Irotatheri community, close to the border with Brazil.
The miners allegedly set fire to a communal house, with witnesses reporting finding burnt bodies.
The Yanomami have previously complained of miners encroaching on their lands.
Due to the community's remote location, it took those who discovered the bodies days to walk to the nearest settlement to report the incident, according to campaign group Survival International.
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more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-19413107
Judi Lynn
(160,644 posts)joshcryer
(62,277 posts)This was a pure execution full stop. It is shocking how this has been covered up for over a month.
arcane1
(38,613 posts)xchrom
(108,903 posts)joshcryer
(62,277 posts)...and likely had the hallmarks of rich elites backing it.
Judi Lynn
(160,644 posts)Amazon tribesmen 'massacred by Venezuela miners'
30 Aug 2012 06:58 - Ian James
Prosecutors have been appointed to investigate after leaders of the indigenous group alerted them to the account, Venezuela's Public Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
~snip~
He and others from the Yanomami organisation met with military officials and prosecutors earlier this week in the south town of Puerto Ayacucho to ask that they travel to the area.
The account of villagers from Hokomawe who saw the victims' remains and talked with the three survivors was later relayed to others in the village of Momoi after days of walking through the forest, Ahiwei said. Others then took the news to the larger community of Parima.
~snip~
He said that according to the survivors' account, the miners attacked because some in the community had been "rescuing Yanomami women" from miners.
More:
http://mg.co.za/article/2012-08-30-amazon-tribesmen-massacred-by-venezuela-miners
eppur_se_muova
(36,301 posts)Campaign group Survival International, which had urged Venezuela to investigate reports of a massacre of Yanomami people in the Amazon, says it now believes no attack took place.
Survival reached this view after speaking to its own sources, the group said.
Reports emerged in August that illegal gold miners had killed up to 80 people.
Venezuelan officials said a team sent to the area had found no bodies and no evidence of an attack.
The attack was alleged to have happened in the remote Irotatheri community, close to the border with Brazil.
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more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-19556792
Hmmmmmm ... very odd, hard not to be suspicious ... crying "wolf" as a tactic, perhaps ?
Judi Lynn
(160,644 posts)polly7
(20,582 posts)This is extraordinary. Survival International, which promoted the unfounded stories about a massacre, is slamming the Venezuelan government for correctly denying that those stories were true. In what screwed-up parallel, Orwellian universe do the propagators of unfounded stories get to pose as morally superior beings while the deniers of the stories, the people who rightly say "there's no evidence for this", are denounced as "shameful"? Only in the universe inhabited by eco-NGOs, where the green-leaning men and women who jet around the world to save destitute and downtrodden people are always Good, always right, while governments, corporations, miners and anyone else who is vaguely committed to the values of progress and economic growth are automatically bad. On this twisted moral plane, even spreading stories about a mythical massacre can be presented as less bad than government attempts to deny that the mythical massacre took place. How utterly bizarre.
http://www.survivalinternational.org/news/8659
Having received its own testimony from confidential sources, Survival now believes there was no attack by miners on the Yanomami settlement of Irotatheri. Yanomami from the area in which many illegal gold miners are currently operating had heard stories of a killing in July, and this was reported, by some, as having occurred in this settlement.
We currently do not know whether or not these stories were sparked by a violent incident, which is the most likely explanation, but tension remains high in the area.
The Venezuelan governments reaction remains shameful. It has not said, even now, that it will remove the miners, and it immediately denied having found evidence of killings, before even concluding its own investigation. Its supporters have gone further and accused its critics of being part of a right-wing conspiracy etc.
The Venezuelan authorities should continue to investigate this incident and, most importantly, must evict those invading the Yanomami and other Indian territories in the country.
http://www.avn.info.ve/contenido/yanomami-tribe-nothing-happened-here
In addition, the Army Mayor said that several frontier military bases are posted in the jungle to protect the Venuelan territory and maintain constant communication with ancient ethnics. "In 10 days of operations, there has not been reported the presence of a single illegal miner."
The Sentry was backed up by Indigenous Affairs Minister Nicia Maldonado, who accompanied by her brothers Yanomami explained: "We have been carrying out an activity of support to confirm the reality of such complaints which went round the world. We are happy to inform the country that, thanks God, these denounces are false. Such events did not happen thanks to our ancestors."
Last Friday, a commission of national and international journalists visited the community. They were welcomed with colorful dances, dishes made of plantain and yucca and the contagious smiles as the best answer before false informations spread by the media. Irotatheri showed itself kindly and helpful in the face of the usual questions: What happened? Was there a massacre?, answering "Here, we are all fine."