PRESS RELEASE
YANOMAMI KILLING: FOEI MEETS WITH BRAZILIAN AUTHORITIES, EXPRESSES
DISMAY ON BEHALF OF NGOs WORLDWIDE, ASKS FOR IMMEDIATE PROVISIONS
FOR SECURITY AND PROSECUTION OF INSTIGATORS.
Brasilia, August 19, 11:00am (Aug 19, 3:00pm GMT). For immediate
release. Contact in Brasilia: tel. 224-6735; fax:223-6800
Friends of the Earth International Amazonia Program Coordinator,
Roberto Smeraldi, met this morning with the President of the
Brazilian Government Indigenous Agency (FUNAI), Claudio Romero,
following to the killing of at least 19 Indians (among them 10
children) in the Yanomami reservation in the Amazonian State of
Roraima. The crime has been allegedly committed by a group of
garimpeiros (gold miners illegally digging the area).
Smeraldi expressed dismay on behalf of FOE and other NGOs from
virtually any country in the world, which have been engaged in an
international campaign in favour of the basic rights of the
Yanomami people, one of the largest indigenous populations in the
Amazon region. He also stated that FOEI had written three times in
the last few months to the Brazilian Minister of Justice asking
for providing security in the Yanomami area.
He also suggested that, beside looking for those who executed the
killing, authorities should evaluate the responsibility in the
crime of those local politicians who, still last Saturday, had
openly instigated on TV broadcasts local goldminers to invade the
area "even with a bloodshed, if necessary".
Mr. Romero, after a meeting with Minister of Justice Mauricio
Correa, assured that FUNAI has already asked all the relevant
Government bodies to mobilize the needed resources for
investigating the crime, and announced that a meeting with Federal
Police to examine any connivance at the local level will be held
tonight in the Roraima capital of Boa Vista. So far, according to
the President, it was impossible to reach the area by helicopter,
since it is covered by a very close rainforest.
Mr. Romero also agreed at the FOEI request of investigating
whether such an unprecedented brutality could be related to the
ongoing campaign, promoted by some Roraima authorities, aimed at
obtaining a reduction in the extension of the Yanomami
reservation. (end)