During the 1980s, the Yanomamö suffered immensely when 40,000 Brazilian gold-miners invaded their land. The miners shot them, destroyed many villages, and exposed them to diseases to which they had no immunity. Twenty percent of the Yanomamö died in just seven years.
In 1993, a group of five miners entered the village of Haximú and murdered 16 Yanomamö including a baby. After a national and international outcry a Brazilian court found five miners guilty of genocide. Two are serving jail sentences whilst the others escaped. This is one of the rare cases in the world where a court has convicted people of genocide.To make things even worse, the Brazilian army has built barracks in the Yanomamö lands, which has increased tensions. Soldiers have raped many Yanomamö women and girls, some of whom have been infected with sexually transmitted diseases.
Many of the Yanomamö in the modern days die from diseases such as a simple cold, because the tribe is not modern enough to manke vaccines for the disease. Many women and girls have also died from AIDS by the Brazilian Soldiers.
Above is a Yanomamö worrior ready for war with the gold-miners, however, as you can see from their clothing and weapons, they are much behind the modern weapons
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