Haximu massacre

The Haximu Massacre, also known as the Yanomami Massacre, was an armed conflict in Brazil in 1993. The conflict occurred just outside of Haximu, Brazil, near the Venezuela border, beginning in mid-June [Ferguson, Brian R., Yanomami Warfare (USA: School of American Research, 1995), 375.] or July [Tierney, Patrick, Darkness in El Dorado (New York: W.W Norton & Company, 2000), 195.] of 1993. Approximately 16 [ Ferguson, Brian R., Yanomami Warfare, 375.] Yanomami people were murdered by a group of garimpeiros (gold miners who were mining the land illegally); however, inaccurate numbers provided by various newspapers such as The Globe and Mail and The New York Times claimed the Yanomami death count was 73. [Vincent, Isabel. “Was there a massacre in the Amazon?” The Globe and Mail, August 28, 1993, front page.] [“Death in the Rain Forest,” The New York Times, August 27, 1993, sec. A28.]

Within the first attack, the garimpeiros killed four or five young men of the Yanomami Haximu-teri. In response, the natives formed two raids against the miners, killing at least two of them and wounding two more. [Ferguson, Brian R., Yanomami Warfare, 375.] Following this raid, the garimpeiros attacked again, killing about 12 Yanomami (almost all of them were elderly, youths or infants) [Ibid., 375.] and burned down the Haximu village. [Tierney, Patrick, Darkness in El Dorado, 195.]

Background

This massacre was initiated by the tensions surrounding the gold rush in Brazil between Brazilian miners and the Yanomami people.

The Yanomami tribe remained alone until sometime between 1973 and 1976 when Brazilians built the Perimetral Norte through the southern area of the natives’ territory. [Victor Engelbert, “A Once Hidden People: The Yanomami of Brazil’s Amazon” World and I, May 2004, 186.] This road initiated the arrival of gold miners, which includes those that came during a gold rush beginning in 1987.

When examining the history of the gold rushes in Haximu, a recurring occurrence happens to the Yanomami, which Bruce Albert refers to as the “gold mining trap.” [Ferguson, Brian R., Yanomami Warfare, 375.] When the first few garimpeiros arrive, they provide the Yanomami with charitable gifts until several more miners occupy. Once the number of miners increases, the balance of power is altered and the Yanomami become nuisances to them. Tension ultimately arises when the Yanomami want more Western goods such as medicine, clothes and food, which they had come to rely on when the miners arrived. As a result, the use of violence becomes a common outcome, [Ibid., 375.] which may provide reason as to why the miners initiated attacks on the Yanomami.

Claimed causes

The specific incident that caused the garimpeiros to attack the Yanomami is uncertain and many details regarding the event are muddled. A former tuxua (chief) of Haximu named Antonio claimed that the garimpeiros attacked his people when they stole a hammock from the miners. However, it was also reported that he claimed that 20 people from his tribe were killed, [Vincent, Isabel. “Everyone died—the Yanomami want revenge” The Globe and Mail, August 28, 1993, sec. A6.] which was later proven to be false. [This is not to say that Antonio is lying or that additional comments he has made are untrustworthy. It should merely be noted that the specifics pertaining to this massacre are fuzzy and one should be aware of this when examining the massacre.] Furthermore, reports within the media exaggerated the number of Yanomami that were killed after the first Brazilian to visit the village gave an inaccurate account of the scene at Haximu. He claimed at a press conference that he had seen several decapitated bodies there, [Tierney, Patrick, Darkness in El Dorado, 195.] which somehow led people to believe that 73 Yanomami had died. However, due to the inability to locate the bodies, [Vincent, Isabel. “Was there a massacre in the Amazon?” sec. A6.] discovering later that the Yanomami burned the bodies for mourning rituals [Tierney, Patrick, Darkness in El Dorado, 195.] and interviews with survivors by Bruce Albert [Ferguson, Brian R., Yanomami Warfare, 375.] historians and scholars have deemed this portrayal to be incorrect. As a result, it is important that the Haximu Massacre is not ignored but examined carefully due to the inaccuracies within the media, eye witness accounts and biases that may pertain to an extremely delicate issue.

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