Yanomami
Ecoside - Destroying a people's environment is an efficient way to get rid of them. And you don't need a huge military budget to do it. When gold was discovered in Roraima state, Brazil, the authorities encouraged prospectors to hunt for gold on Yanomani land. The gold miners brought diseases like malaria, TB and influenza with them, [Yanomami Native] killing 20% of the population. Miners have also massacred them directly. The local government looks the other way, because gold means votes and money. Today miners and developers continue to invade the area. Meanwhile the Brazilian government has stopped funding health services.

On January 8, 1996 Brazil's President Fernando Henrique Cardoso signed Decree #1775 into law. The decree--dubbed the "Genocide Decree" by human rights activists--allows commercial interests to protest indigenous land titles, and undermines the rights of Indians to their traditional territories as guaranteed in Brazil's Constitution. It could also take natural resources, which the local communities depend on for survival, out of their control. Please follow the Yanomami Chronology and Julio Centena's commentary en español. Click here to do something.