Survivors of a grotesque bloodbath wherein sixteen Yanomami Indians had been killed by the hands of unlawful gold-miners have spoken out twenty years after the assault, as miners proceed to invade Yanomami land.
Marisa Yanomami and Leida Yanomami, survivors of the Haximu bloodbath in 1993, talk about their painful recollections:
‘The gold-miners killed our brothers and sisters and in addition killed our father with machetes; a few of them had been killed with weapons.
‘We lived within the place referred to as Haximu, the place the bloodbath began. Then we fled into the forest, however the gold-miners got here after us and killed one other ten individuals, bringing the overall deaths to sixteen.
‘After the primary ten individuals died, initially of the battle, we moved to a different place to cover and stayed in our shabono (communal home), however the subsequent day, the miners appeared once more.
‘We stayed in the identical space, we didn’t transfer far, so the miners at all times got here after us. That was how the bloodbath of the Haximu neighborhood occurred.
‘We are able to’t speak about it a lot as a result of it makes us very unhappy. After we discuss in regards to the bloodbath, we bear in mind our father, which is why we are able to’t go into extra element.’
Davi Kopenawa, spokesperson of the Yanomami, remembers these murdered at Haximu:
‘I’ve by no means forgotten about Haximu. The gold prospectors killed sixteen Yanomami and the identical prospectors got here again.
‘I spoke to Arorama from Haximu thëri (a Yanomami from Haximu) and he has by no means forgotten. I’ve by no means forgotten both.
‘The federal police didn’t handle to punish them; the identical gold prospectors who killed the Haximu thëri (the Haximu individuals) got here again.
‘We had been outraged as a result of the gold prospectors had been by no means punished and didn’t undergo like we did.
‘We don’t bear in mind our useless. The napë pë [white people or non Yanomami] preserve asking about Haximu. The white individuals like writing and to report what occurred on paper. The napë pë give interviews for others to learn and bear in mind, however the Yanomami haven’t forgotten.
‘We Yanomami won’t ever be pals with the gold prospectors.’
Davi Kopenawa is a Yanomami shaman and spokesman. He’s president of Hutukara Yanomami Affiliation: www.hutukara.org
