Prospectors Found Dead in Brazil

Brazilian police have found the bodies of 23 illegal diamond prospectors apparently killed by Indians in a battle on their remote Amazon reserve, the government’s Indian agency said Saturday.

The clash between miners and Cinta Larga, or Wide Belt, Indians on the Roosevelt reserve in Rondonia state -- an area some experts say is South America’s richest diamond region -- took place April 7, said a spokesman for Brazil’s National Indian Foundation.

“The federal police have confirmed 23 bodies. And on Monday a federal police task force of 280 men is going to the area to remove all the prospectors, disarm everybody,” foundation spokesman Carlos Tavares said.

A spokesman for the Union of Rondonia State Prospectors put the death toll at 79.

The area has long been a point of conflict between Indians and miners, who are periodically pushed off the reserve by authorities, only to return.

Tensions flared again last week, prompting Rondonia’s governor to travel to Brasilia to talk with the federal government.

Mining on Indian reserves is illegal, but rumors of big diamond strikes have drawn hundreds of wildcat miners, or garimpeiros, to the area. Police say interest by buyers from South Africa and Belgium has spurred the illegal mining.

Authorities have not been able to drive the miners off permanently because the reserve’s large size and the thick jungle make police searches difficult.