80 members of indigenous tribe reported killed in Venezuela

(Vatican Radio) Gold miners in Venezuela have killed up to 80 members of a community of isolated Yanomami Indians, according to reports received by Survival International. Massacres against Yanomami Indians have happened before. In 1993, 16 Indians were killed after miners attacked a Yanomami community in Brazil. Several miners were subsequently convicted of genocide.
“This is another appalling tragedy for the Yanomami – heaping crime upon crime, said Stephen Corry, Director of Survival International. “All Amazonian governments must stop the rampant illegal mining, logging and settlement in indigenous territories. It inevitably leads to massacres of Indian men, women and children. The Venezuelan authorities must now bring the killers to swift justice, and send a signal throughout the region that Indians can no longer be killed with impunity. The mining and logging must be stopped.’
Survival International, which works to protect the rights of indigenous peoples around the world, is also calling for the Venezuelan and Brazilian governments to work together to protect the Yanomami.
“This is a particular problem with gold prices having risen recently; more gold miners are thought to be operating in the area, some of them having come from Brazil,” said Sarah Shenker, a campaigner with Survival International. “So it really needs to be an inter-governmental operation to get rid of all the gold miners from the Yanomami territory who are operating there illegally.”
Listen to the full interview by Charles Collins with Sarah Shenker: