Brazil: Gunmen threaten to assassinate leading Amazon shaman

[Judi Lynn]

Last edited Sat Aug 2, 2014, 12:57 AM - Edit history (1)

Brazil: Gunmen threaten to assassinate leading Amazon shaman
Friday, 1 August 2014, 1:39 pm
Press Release: Survival International

Brazil: Gunmen threaten to assassinate leading Amazon shaman

July 29, 2014

Davi Kopenawa, shaman and internationally renowned spokesman for the Yanomami tribe in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest, has demanded urgent police protection following a series of death threats by armed thugs reportedly hired by goldminers operating illegally on Yanomami land.

In June 2014, armed men on motorbikes raided the Boa Vista office of Brazilian organization ISA, which works closely with the Yanomami, asking for Davi. The men threatened ISA’s staff with guns and stole computers and other equipment. After the assault, one of the men was arrested and reported that he had been hired by goldminers.

In May, Yanomami Association Hutukara – headed by Davi – received a message from goldminers that Davi would not be alive by the end of the year.
Davi said, “They want to kill me. I don’t do what the white people do, who go after someone to kill them. I don’t get in the way of their work. But they are getting in the way of our work and our fight. I’ll continue to fight and to work for my people. Because defending the Yanomami people and their land is my work.”

Since the attack, a climate of fear has surrounded the offices of Hutukara and ISA, as men on motorbikes intimidate the staff and repeatedly ask for Davi’s whereabouts.

More:
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO1408/S00039/brazil-gunmen-threaten-to-assassinate-leading-amazon-shaman.htm

[JEFF9K]

1. Phew!

As first I thought the threat was against Jeff Bezos!