They are missing in the expanses of the Brazilian Amazon rainforest. Freelance journalist Dom Phillips and pundit Bruno Pereira have not been heard from since June 5. The search operations have been going on for almost ten days. A duration all the more worrying given that the sector where they were last seen is said to be home to drug traffickers, as well as illegal fishermen, loggers and gold panners. Here is what we know as of Tuesday June 14th about her disappearance and the progress of the investigation into this matter which has become very political.
The two men were on the boat together
Dom Phillips, 57, a longtime contributor to Britain’s The Guardian newspaper, has written dozens of articles on threats to the environment and indigenous peoples in the Amazon and is preparing a book on the subject. It was led by Bruno Pereira, 41, who worked for many years at Funai, the National Indian Foundation, a Brazilian government structure dedicated to indigenous peoples. In particular, this recognized specialist was in contact with isolated peoples of the Javari Valley, a remote region in the extreme west of the Amazonian state.
Journalist Dom Phillips during a report in Roraima, Brazil, November 15, 2019. (JOAO LAET / AFP)
The two men traveled around the region by boat together, conducting interviews for Dom Phillips’ book. They were last seen on June 5 boarding a boat in the town of Sao Gabriel. You should go to the city of Atalaia do Norte, which is located in eastern Brazil on the border with Peru. The two men never reached their destination.
Conflicting information is circulating about the discovery of human remains
Words from Jair Bolsonaro raise fears of a dramatic outcome. “Everything indicates that they were injured,” the Brazilian President said on CBN radio on Monday. “Human entrails were found floating on the river and taken to Brasilia for DNA identification. (…) Given the time that has passed, it will be very difficult to find her alive. I pray to God that will be the case, but the information we have makes us fear otherwise.”
The day before, conflicting information had been circulating about the possible discovery of two bodies. “We are awaiting confirmation from the federal police to find out whether it is Dom and Bruno or not. We remain concerned in the meantime,” Dominique Davies, Dom Phillips’ niece, told AFP on Monday morning. The journalist’s wife made a similar statement to TV Globo, saying she had been informed by the Brazilian embassy in the UK. Beatriz Munoz, Bruno Pereira’s wife, then denied this information: “The federal police, who are obliged to inform the families first (…) confirmed to us that no body was found. We should know where the ambassador got this information from Has.” off,” she wrote on Twitter.
Members of the Union of Indigenous Organizations of the Javari Valley search for clues about the fate of journalist Dom Phillips and expert Bruno Pereira in Atalaia do Norte, Brazil, June 13, 2022. (JOAO LAET / AFP)
The federal police, for their part, only stated that “biological material” and personal effects of the two missing persons would be analyzed. The Union of Indigenous Peoples of the Javari Valley (Univaja), which conducts incessant investigations, also states that no body has been found at this time.
A suspect was taken into custody
The criminal trail is under serious scrutiny by the investigators. The latter now turn to a 41-year-old man, Amarildo Costa de Oliveira. The personal belongings of the two missing persons were actually found near his home. Police recovered a medical card, trousers, sandals and a pair of boots from Bruno Pereira, as well as another pair of boots and a backpack containing personal clothing from Dom Phillips.
This suspect was remanded in custody on June 7th. Ammunition reserved for the army was also discovered in his home. The police found traces of blood on his boat and are conducting analyzes to determine its origin – human or animal. Portrayed by the Brazilian press as a fisherman from Sao Gabriel, he denies any involvement in the disappearance of the two men.
An aerial view of the municipality of Atalaia do Norte (Brazil), June 10, 2022, from a helicopter involved in searches for journalist Dom Phillips and expert Bruno Pereira. (JOAO LAET / AFP)
However, witnesses cited by an Indigenous representative said they saw Amarildo Costa de Oliveira traveling at high speed aboard a boat that was going in the same direction as Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira’s boat. According to Globo 1, Univaja had already denounced this man in April, accusing him of illegal fishing activities on indigenous lands and involvement in several gun attacks on a shelter base in 2018 and 2019.
The case has a very political dimension.
While deforestation in the Amazon has increased sharply since Jair Bolsonaro’s tenure began in 2019, the disappearance of these two defenders of the Amazon’s indigenous peoples once again raises political questions. On Monday, dozens of residents in Atalaia do Norte demonstrated to demand answers from the authorities and to denounce their reluctance to carry out searches. One criticism shared by the Alicia Patterson Foundation, which had provided Dom Phillips with a grant: “Research efforts have been slow and units from the Army and Navy have not yet been dispatched to the region,” a press release issued three days later lamented the disappearance.
Bruno Pereira’s commitment to defending indigenous peoples had regularly brought him threats, including death. As for Dom Phillips, “It has to be this way [son] last trip to the Amazon,” reports the Guardian. The journalist had worked with Bruno Pereira since 2018, when he was still working for Funai. According to the British daily, their work “became much more difficult the following year”. Jair Bolsonaro took over the presidency of Brazil because “the extreme right-wing ex-army captain never hid his contempt for indigenous peoples”.
At that time, a FUNAI member was killed in front of his family in Tatabinga, near the border with Peru and Colombia, after confiscating a shipment of illegal catches in the Javari Valley. This crime was never solved. The NGO Human Rights Watch then revealed that 300 defenders of the Amazon rainforest were killed in ten years, with only 14 trials at stake.