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Washington, D.C. – The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) expresses its deepest concern about the informaton on a massacre that allegedly took place in the Community of Irotatheri, of the Yanomami Indigenous Peoples, Municipality of Alto Orinoco, Amazonas State, Venezuela.

Garimpeiros, allegedly attacked last July a shabono or community housing where approximately eighty members of the Irotatheri Community of the Yanomami Peoples were gathered. The information alleges that some survivors had seen how people from a helicopter shot the members of the Community, including children and elders.

The Office of the Public Prosecutor of Venezuela publicly announced that an investigation on the events would be launched. Days later, the minister on Indigenous Peoples, Nicia Maldonado, announced that no evidence was found on the massacre, and the minister on Interior and Justice, Tareck el Aissami, informed that the delegation did not find any signs of violence.

On their part, the Coordination of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazonia (Coordinación de Organizaciones Indígenas de Amazonas, COIAM) issued a statement expressing their concern because the governmental investigative commission did not reach the Community of Irotatheri, place where the killing allegedly took place. The IACHR urges the authorities to conduct a thorough investigation to conclusively determine what happened. Source: IACHR

Please click for the official page for the verification appeal to the Venezuelan and Brazilian authorities by HUTUKARA:

I fully support Hutukara’s appeal for an immediate investigation into the facts of the crime and the punishment of those responsible.