Authorities and indigenous rights groups announced Monday that a British journalist and a Brazilian expert in indigenous peoples disappeared from a remote area of the Amazon after they were threatened.
Dom Phillips (57), a freelance journalist, vanished while researching a book about the Javari Valley with Bruno Araujo Pereira. Phillips is a regular contributor to The Guardian. . Since Sunday morning, the two men have been missing.
The Javari Valley, located in the southwest Amazon, is not far from Peru. It is difficult to reach and home to about twenty tribes. The presence of clandestine hunters, miners and artisanal gold miners in this region has led to an increase in armed violence.
According to the Union of Indigenous Organizations of the Javari Valley, Univaja and the Observatory for the Human Rights of Isolated and Indigenous Peoples, initial research by indigenous people with “excellent knowledge of the area”, turned up nothing. Recently contacted (OPI).
According to the prosecution, the police were in charge of a search operation under the direction the navy. These disappearances caused a lot of emotion in Brazil as well as on social media. We implore Brazil to send the federal police, the national guard and all other forces available to search for our dear Dom,” wrote Paul Sherwood on Twitter, a friend of Phillips. He loves Brazil and has dedicated his life to the Amazon rainforest.
Brazil’s foreign media association, Acie, voiced “extreme concern” to the authorities and asked them to “immediately”. The former President Lula, who was a favorite in October’s election, expressed his wish for the men to be “safe and found quickly”. Univaja and OPI released a statement saying that they had received threats on the ground over the week preceding their disappearance.
Although the latter didn’t specify the nature of the threats, Bruno Araujo Pereira was a great connoisseur and historian of the region. He worked for Funai, which is a government agency responsible for indigenous peoples. However, Bruno Araujo Pereira has been regularly threatened by illegal loggers or miners who are envious of indigenous lands.
Funai stated to AFP that it was working with local authorities in search operations. Univaja and OPI report that the men arrived at Lake Jaburu Friday evening after leaving Atalaia Do Norte in the state Amazonas to interview residents near a Funai base.
The group then returned to Atalaia Do Norte at 9 a.m. on Sunday. They stopped at Sao Rafael where Bruno Pereira had planned to meet with the chief to discuss the issue indigenous patrols in order to combat land “invasions” under Jair Bolsonaro’s government.
According to “O Globo”, police arrested two fishermen on Monday and Tuesday night. One of the men was also taken into custody by the police. It is not clear if it is the local chief. According to two organizations, the men decided to travel back to Atalaia Do Norte, which is two hours by boat. They were last seen at Sao Gabriel downstream, near Sao Rafael.
According to the same source, they were travelling on a brand new boat with 70 liters gasoline. They also had satellite communication equipment. “The Guardian” stated that it was “very concerned about its occasional contributor,” whose articles are regularly published by “The New York Times”, the Washington Post, and other outlets.
“We condemn violence and attacks against journalists and media workers. The daily expressed hope that Dom and all those who traveled with them will be soon found safe and sound. Funai’s Javari Valley base has been attacked numerous times over the years. There was a Funai representative who was killed there in 2019.
