It was April 7, 2004, and Nacoça Pio was one of the first to learn of the bloodshed. A leader of the Cinta-Larga—an indigenous tribe that for centuries lived in isolation in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest—Pio knew that tensions were high between his people and the white diamond prospectors who came to make their fortunes. in their backyard.
The bodies of 26 miners were found near their tank. Some were shot with arrows, some were killed with guns or beaten with sticks. “Two of the bodies were missing eyeballs, prompting rumors that the fighters had covered the victims’ eyes with honey to attract ants and bees,” writes Alex Cuadros in his new book, When We Sold God’s Eye: Diamonds, Murder . . , and a collision of worlds in the Amazon” (Grand Central, out December 3).
During a trial in November 2023, the prosecution claimed that “the indigenous people who committed these acts wanted to prevent anyone else from mining diamonds on their lands.” And Pio was one of the prime suspects.
The carnage was shocking, but not a complete surprise. Since 1999, Stream of the Blackflies, a mining operation in the region rumored to be worth $20 million every month, had turned into a powder keg. It was only a matter of time before tensions between natives and white prospectors led to violence.
Pio was labeled a “diamond baron” by the media and was “rumored to own three mansions and a fleet of imported trucks with white drivers,” Cuadros wrote. “Some of it, he admitted, was true.” But while he shared some of the blame for unchecked greed, Pio couldn’t help but wonder, “Was it greed to want the things he had been taught to want from white men?”
Before the white treasure hunters came, his people—barely 2,000—had no experience of the civilized world. They had never seen calendars or clocks. They knew nothing about money or wealth. As Pio once said, “When we wanted something, nuts, honey or fruit, we went to look for it in the forest.”
The Cinta-Larga—which, according to legend, once overshadowed an Amazon expedition led by Theodore Roosevelt in the early 20th century—were also cannibals, at least until the 1970s. The warriors “ate everything, even breaks the bones to absorb the marrow,” Cuadros writes. When asked by an anthropologist what human flesh tastes like, they compared it to “the dark, delicious tapir meat,” Cuadros writes. White men, on the other hand – whom Cinta-Larga first encountered in the 1920s – were “very salty”.
There was no such thing as ownership in the world of Cinta-Larga, a tribe of barely 2,000. Even the metal tools that the white men used, such as swords or machetes, were thrown on the ground after each use, left for someone else to discover. The diamonds that would soon make the area a magnet for prospectors were largely ignored. Once, a group of women found a stone so big, “they said it looked like Ngurá inhakíp – ‘Eye of God,'” writes Cuadros. “It would have been worth an almost unimaginable sum. But they had nothing for it, so they threw him back into the water.”
The white visitors didn’t just bring gifts; they also brought disease. In 1971, when Pio was just a child, his father Mankalu contracted measles while visiting a foreigner’s camp, and soon he and most of Pio’s family died. It was a turning point for the young Indian. “Left with no one to turn to, Pio discovered that he could remain calm in the face of extremes and take the initiative when others failed,” writes Cuadros.
Pio found a new village to call home and soon proved he had something valuable to offer. He had a knack for leadership and a charming personality that won over both whites and Indians. Having mastered the Portuguese language, he became a kind of foreign minister for the tribe. “Whenever there is a problem, I will deal with the whites,” Pio explained to his friends.
As an adult, Pio became a natural leader, albeit a very different type from his warrior father. “Although he did not fear violence, (Pio) wanted to avoid it,” writes Cuadros. “In the hope of keeping the government on his side, he tried to go through official channels.”
Trouble started in 1999 when Luca Pintado, a strange “albino-white” man in his 80s who spoke with an out-of-place accent, arrived at the Cinta Larga site looking for diamonds. There had long been rumors of riches hidden in the Amazon jungle, but Pio never quite believed the stories.
“You’ll see,” Pintado promised. “You will be the richest Indian in the world.”
Pintado was right, at least about the diamonds. As they soon discovered, the area contained one of the world’s most abundant diamond deposits. Although Brazilian law prohibited mining in indigenous territory, it did not stop prospectors from coming anyway. And instead of fighting to keep them out, Pio joined them, paying a fee to enter the reservation.
At first, it was a financial windfall, with many tribal leaders buying luxuries such as new houses, color televisions and cars. Pio, however, was more interested in redistributing wealth. He invested in medicine and medical staff for the tribe. He bought dairy cows and hired a farmer to teach them how to milk. “Pio always thought of his people,” one tribesman told the author. “He wasn’t, like, ‘This is mine.’ Instead it was, ‘This is ours.’
But discontent was growing on both sides. The Indians felt they should have more ownership of the mines, while the miners believed the tribe was getting rich off their labor. Pio was caught in the middle, “at once a putative king, overseeing a multimillion-dollar mining operation, and a legitimate leader of his people, fighting for better education and health care and the integrity of their lands,” Cuadros writes.
By early 2004, the situation had reached a boiling point and Pio could do little to contain it. After the massacre, Pio only made matters worse with his media appearances. “Don’t let your son here anymore, don’t let your husband come here anymore,” he said in an interview with TV Globo. Know that this can happen, because I can’t keep everyone under control.”
The Federal Police tried to charge Pio with “leading” and “inciting” the murders, but could not find enough evidence to convict him. Two decades later, “almost all charges have passed the statute of limitations, expiring without a verdict,” Cuadros writes.
Pio continues to insist that “if [he] had been present [he]… would not have allowed the events to happen.” But his regret for what happened to the people of Cinta-Larga goes beyond a bloody day of violence.
“White people’s stuff makes us lazy,” he allegedly said during a phone call intercepted by the feds. None of their misfortunes would have come if they had simply stayed in the forest. At least we didn’t worry there. There were no clothes, no money, nothing. . . There were no weapons, there were no days of the week, neither Sunday nor Saturday.”
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Image Source : nypost.com