Government: No proof of massacre

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CARACAS, Venezuela, Sept. 4 (UPI) -- Government investigators were unable to find proof of a report miners massacred dozens of Yanomami Indians in the Venezuelan Amazon, officials said.

Allegations of a massacre came out of a remote region along the Brazil-Venezuelan border where Brazilian gold miners have been clashing with indigenous groups, CNN reported Tuesday.

"We can tell the country that there is no evidence of any deaths, nor any evidence of homes burned down in the supposed massacre of 80 of your Yanomami brothers," said Nicia Maldonado, Venezuela's minister of tribal people.

Interior Minister Tareck El Aissami tweeted government investigators visited all the Yanomami communities and "all are well."

However, a group of organizations representing indigenous people and communities in the Amazon said investigators failed to visit the exact area where the massacre took place.

That village is five hours by helicopter or 15 days on foot from Venezuela's main city in the Amazon, Puerto Ayacucho, the group said.