Police Begin Recovery of 26 Diamond Prospectors Found Dead in Amazon

Ap ^ | April 18, 2004

[nuconvert]

Police Begin Recovery of 26 Diamond Prospectors Found Dead in Amazon Indian Reservation

Apr 18, 2004

By Stan Lehman/ Associated Press Writer

SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) - By helicopter and on foot, police entered the dense Amazon jungle Sunday to recover the bodies of 26 diamond prospectors slain in a mysterious clash with Indians in the remote area. The bodies of another 30 prospectors could still be inside the reservation in northwest Brazil, also victims of the attack that saw Cinta Larga Indians apparently massacre dozens of prospectors on April 7.

Four days later, the first three bodies were found and taken out of the reservation. Some 30 federal police agents, aided by Federal Indian Bureau personnel, were expected to retrieve the remaining bodies by Monday, said bureau official Roberto Lustosa.

"Recovery will be a difficult and unpleasant task," Lustosa said. "Many of the bodies have been partially eaten by wild animals and all are decomposed after more than 10 days in the jungle."

Firmino Aparecido, the city police chief of Espigao d'Oeste located about 62 miles from the reservation, said they were all shot to death. Some press reports said some of the victims had been clubbed to death and then hacked to pieces. Other were reportedly beheaded.

Tensions between prospectors and Indians have flared often in recent years, but little was known about the exact reason behind the latest attack or why so many people were killed. In the past, some chiefs have charged prospectors for access to the reservation even though Brazilian law forbids mining there.

The bodies of the dead were spread around a half-mile area, Aparecido said Saturday. Citing information from local prospectors, he said the bodies of at least another 30 prospectors could still be somewhere inside the reservation.

According to Aparecido, the 100 Cinta Larga Indians who lived in Espigao d'Oeste have left the city, fearing reprisals from the prospectors.

Indian reservations are under federal jurisdiction in Brazil and are off-limits to state police. Federal police are on strike but have allowed the federal agents to join the mission.

Covering 6.7 million acres, the reservation is located some 1,240 miles northwest of Sao Paulo in the state of Rondonia. It is thought to hold South America's largest diamond reserves.

[giznort]

What in the world is going on? Beheaded? Clubbed? I haven't heard anything about this except for this post. I thought Brazil was somewhat civilized. 26 people are a lot to have showing up dead. This is just awful.

[leadpenny]

It's like reading an account of settlers moving west in this country from 150-200 years ago.

[jocon307]

"Federal police are on strike..."

That's always helpful.

[spetznaz]

Well, it depends on which part of Brazil you go to. Rio and Sao Paulo are one thing (and even there you better beware of kidnappers ....otherwise it is a form of paradise), but the Amazon jungle is a totally different place. There are so many ways to die in the Amazon it is not even funny.

You can take your pick from death by BushMaster and Fer de Lance snakes (and obviously the all-embracing hug of a green anaconda), venomous caterpillars whose barbs can cause your nervous system to collapse, Jaguar at six o'clock, rabied vampire bats, irate natives with curare-tipped poison darts, poison-arrow frogs in your boots with bachtrotoxin so potent you'd be dead in half-an-hour, and all sorts of exotic diseases ranging from footrot to dysentry to viral malladies and some of the most amazing parasites to ever roam the face of the earth (think of one that eats your tongue and then takes its place by hooking itself to your mouth ...although at least you won't die).

I'd rather be in an African savannah than the Amazon. At least in the savannah death, if it comes, would be fast. In the amazon it may be quick, but it may also be a slow half-death experience that is just hell on earth.

[giznort]

Sheesh. Thank you for the nightmare fodder. And I thought tonight's 50 mph wind gusts were going to keep me awake.......... :)

[nuconvert]

LOL

Thanks again for your informative explanation, spetz

[Nimitz]

Savages. I wonder if they would understand cluster bomblets knee deep or a few thousand acres of Agent Orange....the new and improved version of course.

Savages.

[skinkinthegrass]

...some of the most amazing parasites to ever roam the face of the earth (think of one that eats your tongue and then takes its place by hooking itself to your mouth..

...alway think NICE thoughts. /s off

...Mother Nature is not friendly...its' nature...and she's a mother. :))

[ApplegateRanch]

I guess they don't like 'undocumented immigrants' in their territory, even if they are 'just taking the diamonds the Indians don't want to take.'

[wardaddy]

Spet,

You forgot the anus and pee-pee hole little parasite fish that go into those orifices and then stick their barbs out to gain a footing so they can chow on surrounding flesh or the parasite that bites you and travels to your brain and gestates and then kill you in about 20 years in way that makes rabies look like a cold.

I worked in Rondonia, Mato Grosso, Piaui, Bahia, Roraima, and Amazonas in alluvial mining for diamonds in the early to mid 80s. In Injun country we always carried arms and would post guards at nite and leave booty for the Indians....they really liked shiny tinwear, bic lighters and of course good machetes.

Indians killing garimperos and vice versa was always rather common. The available firearms were mostly Taurus S&W knockoffs like .38 revolvers and Brasilian or Spanish shotguns.

This however looks like a major beef. I would expect payback.

[mindspy]

The jungles have never been civilized. The Portuguese didn't even attempt it, well they did at first but gave up.

[spetznaz]

Spet, You forgot the anus and pee-pee hole little parasite fish that go into those orifices and then stick their barbs out to gain a footing so they can chow on surrounding flesh or the parasite that bites you and travels to your brain and gestates and then kill you in about 20 years in way that makes rabies look like a cold.

Ah yes, every guys favorite friend .....little urethra parasite fish from the sixth level of hades. Honestly that lil' sucker is just the plain synthesis of every guy's nightmare .....something swimming up a person's weewee and extending its spikes inside and lodging itself there is just wrong ....as in I'd talk to the fish and just plead to its logic! Some things are just not supposed to happen. That fish is one of the main reasons (apart from pirahna and crocodilians) why someone should never take a bathe in the Amazon river (although anyone taking a bath in a South America, African or South-East Asian river probably deserves whatever cruel and unusual fate befalls them). From what i've read that Amazonian fish swims to its victim using his urine stream (hence no peepee in the river), and voila .....guy hell.

And what is worse than a fish with barbs stuck in your urethra? Well, when that fish dies and starts to rot ......you nab the picture.

By the way WarDaddy, in your travels have you heard of the Guinea Worm? (Obviously something called a 'Guinea Worm' must be nasty to have such a name). It is not a denizen of the Amazon jungle (our friend GW lives adjacent to African rivers), and our friend has this rather nasty tendency to get into a person body (as an almost microscopic egg), and then grow like crazy to a length of several feet (extremely thin but very long), being just beneath the skin.

The way they remove them is to make a hole in the skin, wrap a piece around a stick, and then roll the stick while taking care not to break the worm (breaking it causes the victim to go into shock for some reason .....probably some defence mechanism in the worm).

However, obviously, the Amazon basin takes the prize in weird alien and wholly disgusting yuck-yucks! And yeah, I've heard of the brain parasite. From what i hear once things become dire the victim normally kills themselves by bashing their head against a log or stone .....the pain is supposed to be straight out of Dante's Inferno.

By the way ....aren't the pesky flies with the naughty habit of laying eggs in people and having the maggots eat their way out also live in the Amazon? And since you lived in S. America for a while i am sure you must have met our slithery pal Mr. Fer De Lance and his love of giving deep hickies with his fangs. And yeah, Ole' Cousin Brazilian Wandering Spider also tends to play 'wicked vampire' and bite people for no apparent reason.

Although the thing i'd fear the most, apart from the brain parasite or the the Bobbit Fish (what is the fish called by the way ...it has a weird name) has to be those venomous caterpillars. I saw some pictures of some indians who had met with them, and their arms were swollen like they had elephantiasis.

I personally think the reason why the Amazon is so full of such nasty thingimajigs is because Brazilian women are so beautiful. Why? Well, there has to be a balance. If there were no critters with a bad attitude and personalities straight out of a Quentin Tarantino wet dream, then too many men would be going to Rio. However having the land swarming with nasties makes them think twice.

Don't blame Bush ....blame beautiful Brazilian women! 'Cause it's their fault for sure.

[wardaddy]

Bobbit fish?...lol...that was a good one.

I never got out in water too deep unless it was really fast moving or clear and cold. You know there are parts of the Amazon basin where fresh water comes into the main water body and it's so clean you can drink it.....even down river from Manaus....on the big river...amazing. They call most of those spots AguaDulce (sweetwater) or Aguafresca (freshwater). Ships plying the Amazon up to Manaus or Iquitos know the spots to bunker for potable and coolant water.


Yep, Brasil has some interesting chicks....I was married to one. She and my husband in law and my two girls are living comfortably in Orange County NY.

The worst reptile to me is the Bushmaster. It can be found from Southern Mexico southwards and carries both hemo and neuro toxins and can strike half it's body length high (which is rather high since it's quite long) and it has a disposition like a mamba or cottonmouth...aggressive. Folks carried stunguns around when I was there to slow the venom with repeated shocks to the bitten area.

I ran over a long Bushy in a remote region of Belize once in my old Land Rover. It was a long snake. I was carrying some indig riders in the back. One had an old single shot JC Higgins style 12er and he hopped out and chased the injured snake off into the bush off the road and after a minute or so came back holding the dead beheaded snake destined to be supper.

I would never have lept off into the bush after a 7 foot long pissed off Bushmaster...no way.

[geopyg]

Well - seeing as we've come this far down the road and off the topic - any hints on travel to Taiwan? I've got a job coming up working in southern Taiwan on a landslide in the jungle. I'll be talking to the client as well (I know they have some nasty snakes)- but sounds like this thread might provide some help.

Or at least some interesting stories!

[spetznaz]

Well, never been to Taiwan (or S.E Asia for that matter). However when it comes to travelling the following maxim always stands true: always ensure you know someone who lives there who will be with you. That will help you avoid the common pitfalls that befall most foreign travellers everywhere, for example the type that leave the traveller 'devoid' of cash and personal valuables.

Having someone waiting for you (and who will be with you during your stay) is an exercise in prudence.

[spetznaz]

Anyone who can say 'old landrover' is after my own heart. Love the cars ....although they can at times be more cantekerous than an old British granny with lockjaw!

But there is something about the Land and the Range that is sweet.

God willing i will take a year break 2 yrs or so from now and travel the world.

[skinkinthegrass]

Ah yes, every guys favorite friend...blame beautiful Brazilian women! 'Cause it's their fault for sure.

What a GREAT Post, so early in the Morning... :)and then, there are the ones, that go unreported, b/c they died.

[nuconvert]

MOre info than most people want or need to know, I think.
It did bring back memories of parasitology classes; not necessarily a good thing.
You're a font of information.
Thank you.

[wardaddy]

Land Rovers are an indulgence here in civilization. In some places, they are de riguer.

The worst thing is that parts are on average about 3-4 times the price of US or Jap cars and mechanics here are at least 80 bucks per hour.

Never take a Land Rover to a dealer except for warranty work.

I have owned a bunch of them. I now have a 9 year old Disco in the perennial LR green and I'm looking for an older Range Rover Classic in good shape to keep forever.

I think nearly 90% of all Land Rovers made since WWII are still being used...amazing. They will last forever if you want to spend the $$$$.

I do not like the new Range Rovers here. They look too slick....like they belong in a Hip-Hop video. I hear they are going to come out again with another more utilitarian model. The Freelander is rather odd too in my view.

Now, a Series ragtop or a Defender Safari would be nice but they are so costly if in decent shape.

Regards.