Murder in the Rainforest

The Yanomami, the Gold Miners and the Amazon

By (author) Jan Rocha

Publication date:

01 June 1999

Length of book:

96 pages

Publisher

Latin America Bureau

Dimensions:

230x148mm

ISBN-13: 9781899365371

In July 1993, near Haximu, a tiny hamlet in the Amazon rainforest, a fateful meeting between a group of young Yanomami Indians and Brazilian gold miners resulted in the massacre of the Yanomami. News of the tragedy shocked Brazil and the world. But mysteries remained: What exactly happened at Haximu? How many people died? Who killed the Indians and why? Using eyewitness accounts, this work tells the story behind the Haximu massacre. Set in the context of the Amazon gold rush, it describes the failings of Brazil's official indigenous policy, the tragic cultural misunderstanding between the gold miners and Yanomami, and analyzes the role of gold fever in the destruction of the Amazon rainforest and its people.