RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – Venezuela and indigenous groups are disputing whether an alleged massacre of Amazon villagers took place after Venezuela’s government said it found no evidence of an attack.
A group representing the Yanomami tribe last week said that Brazilian gold miners had crossed the border and attacked a village from a helicopter. It said the assault could have killed more than 70 people.
Though the attack allegedly happened in July, the tribe was only able to alert the government recently because of the distance and isolation of their native region along the long, dense jungle border with Brazil.
Venezuelan officials said over the weekend that flyovers of the area led them to believe that the allegations were false.
“We can tell the country that we have seen no evidence of death,” said Nicia Maldonado, Venezuela’s minister of government affairs, in televised comments.
Native rights groups and some local politicians criticized the government, saying it reached that conclusion prematurely.
The remoteness of the region – and the nomadic habits of the Yanomami tribe – make it unlikely officials could have reached the exact spot where the attack was reported to have taken place, they said. Even natives, they point out, take days to move among settlements in the region.
