Venezuelan officials and journalists investigating reports of a possible massacre in a remote indigenous village in the Amazon have found people peacefully cooking plantains over a communal fire, and no sign of any killings.
Yanomami Indians in the village of Irotatheri spoke with journalists through a guide, who translated their accounts that there had been no violence. The government flew in journalists by helicopter Friday after a report of killings in the community by an indigenous group.
The villagers stood and watched in apparent amazement as the helicopter passed over their huts and landed nearby in a clearing. Women in the village carried their babies in slings, and people of all ages had their lips bulging with tobacco leaves that they stuff into their mouths and keep there without chewing throughout the day.
Leaders of the Horonami Yanomami Organization released a statement late last month saying that people from a nearby village had visited Irotatheri and reported a mass killing of unknown proportions in early July.
About 40 people live in Irotatheri, a collection of huts that officials say is 19 kilometers from the border with Brazil.
The villagers still largely keep to their traditional ways, wearing face paint and loincloths. But government officials who reached the village ahead of the journalists brought the people T-shirts to cover themselves, and also brought hammocks and cooking pots, which the Yanomami quickly accepted.
Officials gave them pasta and dried manioc that they could cook in their new pots, and also handed them their first spoons.
A doctor traveled with the group and was providing check-ups. Many people in the village were treated for skin ailments and conjunctivitis.
The villagers performed a dance for the visitors, holding bows and arrows.
The Yanomami are one of the largest isolated indigenous groups in the Amazon, with a population estimated at roughly 30,000 on both sides of the Venezuela-Brazil border.
The Yanomami have often had to contend with Brazilian gold miners, who for years have crossed into Venezuela and torn up the forest, leaving water laced with mercury. But military officials who reached the village said that patrols in the area had found no miners.
The government is providing the community with a radio so it communicate with the authorities if they have problems. Two men from the village climbed aboard a helicopter for the first time and flew to a nearby military outpost in La Esmeralda to learn how to use the radio system. (AP)
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‘주민들 집단 학살’ 마을 가보니...
베네수엘라 정부가 아마존에 거주하는 원주민들이 불법 채광업자들에게 집단 살해됐다는 시민 단체의 주장이 거짓으로 확인됐다고 밝혀 주목된다.
베네수엘라 정부 관계자와 언론인들은 학살이 발생한 것으로 알려진 야노마미 부족 거주지인 이로타테리 마을을 직접 찾아 평화롭게 요리를 즐기는 부족민의 모습을 봤다고 9일(현지시간) AP통신이 보도했다.
야노마미 주민들은 통역을 통해 언론인들에게 폭력은 없었다는 말을 전했다.
베네수엘라 정부는 원주민 학살 주장이 제기된 뒤로 언론인들을 헬리콥터에 태워 현장 확인에 나선 것으로 전해졌다.
하지만 야노마미 부족이 여러 마을에 흩어져 사는 탓에 이로타테리 마을 외 다른 곳에서 학살이 벌어졌을 가능성은 배제할 수 없다.
앞서 우고 차베스 베네수엘라 대통령은 기자회견에서 야노마미 부족 학살의 어떤 증거도 찾을 수가 없었다며 논란이 돼 온 학살 주장을 부인한 바 있다.
지난달 원주민 보호단체인 '서바이벌 인터내셔널'은 금광 채굴업자들이 야노마미 부족 80여명을 집단 살해했다며 당국에 철저한 조사를 촉구한 바 있다
