Amnesty International International Secretariat
1 Easton Street London WC1X 8DJ United Kingdom
20 AUGUST 1993
BRAZIL: AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL CALLS FOR PROTECTION OF INDIGENOUS
COMMUNITIES
FOLLOWING MASSACRE OF YANOMAMI INDIANS
Amnesty International is reiterating its calls for immediate and
effective action to prevent future human rights abuses against
Brazil's indigenous communities. This follows reports of the
recent massacre of an estimated 40 Yanomami Indians from the
Haximu village in northern Roraima state near Brazil's border with
Venezuela.
Amnesty International said, "We have been raising cases of
killings of Yanomami and members of other indigenous groups with
the Brazilian authorities for years. It is tragic that it takes a
massacre before the full seriousness of the situation is
realised".
To Amnesty International's knowledge, of 16 cases of killings
of Yanomami between 1984-92 in which police investigations were
actually opened, not one has come to trial. In 1963 an estimated
30 Ureu-wau-wau Indians including women and children were
massacred in the Sao Tom rubber plantation in the western state of
Rondnia. A case brought against the plantation owner for the
killings has languished in the courts for thirty years and has
still not come to trial.
In January 1993 Amnesty International published We are the
Land': Indigenous Peoples' Struggle for Human Rights, AI Index:
AMR 19/32/92, stressing the dangers of escalating violence against
members of Brazil's 180 indigenous groups. It documented over 50
cases of violent attacks on members of indigenous groups in
Brazil, including the Yanomami, and called upon the Brazilian
Government to bring an end to impunity for such crimes.
Amnesty International alerted the government to the special
vulnerability of isolated groups and suggested that the prompt
resolution of demarcation disputes and conflicts between the
indigenous and non- indigenous population was one of the most
important ways of preventing future abuses. Although under the
1988 Constitution all indigenous lands should be demarcated by
October 1993, since January the demarcation program has been
stalled. The Brazilian Government did not even acknowledge Amnesty
International's report.
News of the massacre of some 17 Yanomami Indians from the
village of Haxumi reached a Catholic mission in the Xidea region
on 17 August after terrified members of a neighbouring Yanomami
village arrived to take refuge, having fled in fear of further
attacks by gold prospectors (garimpeiros). They reported that gold
miners had attacked the Haximu village - killing 10 children, five
women and at least two men, slashing arms, legs and heads with
machetes - and set the village on fire.
Members of the government's indian agency FUNAI, Fundaao
Nacional do Indio, investigating the massacre have subsequently
interviewed survivors and on 19 August reached the site of the
massacre, where they encountered mutilated bodies. According to a
FUNAI spokesperson, "The number of Indians killed was much higher
than believed, about 40 were murdered. The men were gunned down
while the women and children were killed with machetes. Some of
the children were decapitated".
Brazil's Minister of Justice, Mauricio Corra, and Attorney
General, Aristedes Junqueira, flew to Roraima on 19 August
accompanied by police and FUNAI officials. The Attorney General
stated on television, "I have no doubts about calling this
genocide".
The Yanomami Indians who live in the forest on the border
with Venezuela are officially estimated to number over 9,000. They
are the largest of Brazil's tribal groups who, through their
isolation, have managed to maintain their traditional way of life.
At least 10,000 members of this tribal group live across the
border in the southern part of Venezuela. Their lands are rich in
mineral resources. Following the illegal entry of thousands of
gold prospectors into Yanomami lands in 1987, some 1,500 Yanomami
were estimated to have died from violence and disease. Since 1990
there have been several government attempts to remove illegal gold
prospectors from the area and in November 1991 the government
signed a decree officially demarcating 9.4.million hectares of
land as the Yanomami Indian reserve. However, there are constant
reports of re-entry of Brazilian miners into Yanomami lands both
in Brazil and in Venezuela where their activities are prohibited
in law. News of killing of another five Yanomami at the end of
July by miners in the region, across the border in Venezuela, was
also reported this week.