Copyright © 2000 Reuters Limited
September 30, 2000

BRASILIA, Sept 27 (Reuters) - Thousands of gold prospectors have penetrated Brazil's Yanomami Indian reservation and may have armed some natives in a move that could trigger renewed bloodshed in the remote Amazon region, government officials and rights groups said on Wednesday.

According to government surveillance data, up to 4,000 wildcat miners are believed to have poured into Yanomami territory over the past three months in a quest for gold.

Officials fear that beyond damaging the environment and spreading Western disease to the isolated tribe, invading miners may again engage in armed conflict against the Yanomami, as happened in 1993 when 12 Indians were massacred.

``This is a very dangerous situation. From the reports we are getting, we are afraid there could be new conflict,'' said Fernando Bittencourt, executive secretary of the Pro-Yanomami Commission in Brasilia.

The president of the Brazilian government's National Indian Foundation (Funai), Glenio da Costa Alvarez, said he planned to launch ``Operation Yanomami'' this week, stepping up surveillance and moving ahead with plans to eject the miners -- known locally as garimpeiros -- from the Portugal-sized Yanomami reservation.

``We have identified three major settlements,'' Alvarez said. ``Our goal is to get them out before they upset the balance there.''

YANOMAMI INDIANS DYING IN GUN BATTLES

Five Yanomami have died this year as a result of gunfire, although the primitive Indian nation hunts and fights with bows and arrows.

Alvarez said he received reports that miners had given guns to Yanomami Indians in a bid to turn tribes against each other, but rights groups said it was not clear whether the Indians died at the hands of fellow Yanomami or garimpeiros.

Also worrying officials was last week's murder of a miner in Yanomami territory, near Brazil's border with Venezuela. Human rights groups fear Yanomami may have killed the miner, which could provoke a revenge killing.

``The last major massacre in 1993 was caused by revenge. The garimpeiros then killed a whole village. We don't want this to happen again,'' Bittencourt said.

The Yanomami, one of the world's only true Neolithic tribes, had lived in near-total isolation for about 2,000 years until the late 1970s, when Brazil's military government conducted aerial surveys showing deposits of valuable cassiterite ore, uranium and gold.

A decade later, more 45,000 garimpeiros had entered Yanomami territory, spreading diseases and destroying the ecosystem -- a mix of savanna and jungle -- by contaminating rivers with mercury used to identify and purify gold.

Lacking immunity to even common colds, the Yanomami were decimated. About 20,000 lived in Brazilian territory 20 years ago. Now there are 10,000 although the population recently began to grow again, officials say. Error: Unable to read footer file.