Brazilian public prosecutors have recently opened an investigation into reports that illegal gold miners on a remote Amazon river had bragged of killing around 10 to 20 members of an “uncontacted” Amazon tribe. Police have reportedly already made two arrests relating to the rumors, after the miners were overheard, bragging about the killings in Brazil.

The Brazil Public Prosecutor’s office and federal police in the country are now investigating the murder of a several indigenous people around the border between Brazil, Peru, and Colombia. The investigation was launched after gold miners entered a bar, carrying a hand-made paddle and a small bag, used by the indigenous people to carry food, which they claimed they had taken from the tribe.

Crude bar talk leads to investigation into indigenous killings

As reported by the Guardian, Leila Silvia Burger Sotto-Maior of the country’s agency dealing with indigenous affairs said their people had reported the story to the prosecutor’s office after hearing what she termed “crude bar talk.” Sotto-Maior added that the illegal gold miners had bragged they had cut the tribesmen’s bodies up so they wouldn’t float and had thrown the body parts into the river.

The New York Times quotes Sotto-Maior as saying the murders of the indigenous tribesmen allegedly happened last month and that the miners had claimed it was a matter of kill or be killed.

Sotto-Maior said investigators have plenty of evidence of the crimes, but that they still needed proof.

Brazilian president under fire for indigenous killings

This isn’t the first reported incident of indigenous killings in Brazil, as Brazilian President Michel Temer has also come under fire for other reports of killings among "uncontacted" tribes in Brazil.

A similar attack was said to have occurred in May in the isolated Warikama Djapar tribe.

Stephen Corry, director of Survival International, said in a statement that the lands of the so-called “uncontacted” tribes should have been recognized and protected many years ago. Survival International members say that due to the small size of the Amazon tribes, the latest massacre could mean that 20 percent of that tribe has been killed.

They state that many deny the existence of the tribes, claiming they can then enter their land with impunity.

Meanwhile, illegal gold miners are considered a real threat to the Amazon, not only for the killing of the “uncontacted” tribesmen but also for their mining practices and for bringing new diseases to the area. The Peru government last year declared a state of emergency over mercury contamination caused by the miners in the Amazon.

Learn more about the "uncontacted" tribes in the video included below.
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