Word: garimpeiro
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This marks the government's second major effort to force miners off Yanomami lands. In May troops blew up 14 landing strips and drove out all but 8,000 of the 40,000 invaders. No sooner had the soldiers left, however, than the garimpeiros returned and rebuilt some of the airstrips. Says Joao Carlos Nicolli, regional administrator of the federal Indian agency: "The big gold lords weren't touched in the first operation. It was a show for the foreigners." He thinks the government is more serious this time. One sign: troops destroyed an airstrip belonging to Jose Altino Machado...
...Tukanos found gold in the Serra do Traira region in 1984, the Salesians' paternalistic domain began to crumble. Soon hundreds of Indians were panning streams, only to encounter exploitation from white buyers who paid them 50% below market price for the gold. Then about 2,000 well-armed white garimpeiros (prospectors) appeared. To garimpeiros, "Indians are wild animals -- brutes," says one former prospector. A garimpeiro, he adds, "is not afraid to kill or be killed. He earns easy, spends easy." These prospectors have recently been supplanted by two powerful mining companies that have government concessions to prospect on Indian land...
...same time, however, the government offered to mediate all claim disputes, set a minimum daily wage ($18) and provided free medical care. Federal experts began to advise the miners on safety precautions and on how to increase output. Before government officials arrived, for example, many of the garimpeiros had been throwing away "black gold," an impure mixture that can be refined to yield ordinary gold and palladium, a valuable metal in its own right, as well as manganese. Says a government mining engineer: "Our job is to orient the garimpeiros. They're individualists. Many were small farmers. They know...
...same time, however, the government offered to mediate all claim disputes, set a minimum daily wage ($18) and provided free medical care. Federal experts began to advise the miners on safety precautions and on how to increase output. Before government officials arrived, for example, many of the garimpeiros had been throwing away "black gold," an impure mixture that can be refined to yield ordinary gold and palladium, a valuable metal in its own right, as well as manganese. Says a government mining engineer: "Our job is to orient the garimpeiros. They're individualists. Many were small farmers. They know...
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