Gold miners in a helicopter massacred eighty indigenous Amazonians according to reports from survivors. Sometime in July a helicopter filled with apparent illegal gold miners massacred Yanomami in their remote village of Irotatheri in Venuzuela
[photo]. Three survivors were hunting in the forest when the attack occurred, but heard the machine and gunfire. The reports are only reaching media outlets now because the nearest modern settlement is a five day walk from the village. Record gold prices are driving a gold rush in the Amazon basin. Illegal mining destroys forest, contaminates rivers with mercury, and causes social conflicts such as prostitution and slavery. Often confrontation with indigenous peoples trying to defend their forest ends in death. The Venezuelan government has a very poor record of intervening to stop the miners from their rampage. Last month Brazil arrested 26 linked to an illegal mining ring operating in its Yanomami Indigenous Reserve. On Wednesday Venezuelan authorities said they would investigate the reports of a massacre. The alleged massacre resembles what occurred in 1993 when the Amazonian villiage of Haximú was attacked and 16 inhabitants where killed by Brazilian miners.
