Amazon Illegal Gold Miners Armed With Machine Guns Kill Elder, Take Over Tribal Village

Dozens of heavily armed gold miners invaded a remote indigenous reserve in northern Brazil where a local leader was stabbed to death. The miners, also known as "garimpeiros", later took over the village.

Local politicians and native leaders said that the residents of the village have fled in fear. There were fears of violent clashes if the locals tried to reclaim the gold-rich land. According to the authorities, police have arrived in the area.

About 50 illegal miners with machine guns have invaded Waiapi, a 600,000-hectare indigenous reserve, in the state of Amapa. According to Brazil’s indigenous rights agency FUNAI, the miners killed 68-year-old Emyra Waiapi, a local leader, whose body was found with stab marks in a river near Mariry village early on Wednesday. Locals then spotted a group of men, believed to be "garimpeiros", near the plantations in their village.

The native villagers have evacuated Mariry and fled to the bigger village of Aramira. They have been warned not to come in contact with the invaders. Based on the accounts from the locals, shots were fired in Aramira on Saturday around 6 p.m. local time (5 p.m. EDT), however, no one was injured. Though the villagers fled, they planned to return, sparking fears of a bloodbath in these areas.

Federal police and elite force arrived in the area on Sunday. According to a local leader, both the federal police and the federal prosecutor’s office will investigate the events. About 1,200 members of the Waiapi community live in dozens of villages in the reserved area of Amapa.

Tensions are on the rise in Brazilian Amazon owing to the high proportions of illegal mining in the area. The mining activities are reportedly polluting the natural habitat, destroying forests and poisoning their rivers with mercury.

Brazil’s far-right President Jair Bolsonaro has encouraged such invasions, Kureni Waiapi, a member of the tribe told the Guardian. Randolf Rodrigues, a senator for Amapa state, blamed Bolsonaro for repeatedly promising to allow mining on protected indigenous reserves, where it is prohibited.

Bolsonaro recently compared the indigenous people living in reserves to pre-historic men. According to local newspaper O Globo, Bolsonaro said on Saturday that he was looking for the "first world" to explore the reserves in Raposa Serra do Sol and Yanomami. His comments have caused a huge outcry in Brazil.

The crisis came to light Saturday when Senator Rodrigues received desperate audio messages from local councilor Jawaruwa Waiapi pleading for police and army help. Brazilian singer Caetono Veloso also shared the tribe’s appeal for help on Saturday.