They are missing in the vastness of the Brazilian Amazon rainforest. Freelance journalist Dom Phillips and expert 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 as the sector in which they were last seen is reputed to be home to drug traffickers, as well as illegal fishermen, loggers and gold washers. Here is what we know, Tuesday, June 14, of their disappearance and the progress of the investigation in this affair which has become very political.
The two men were traveling together by boat
Dom Phillips, 57, longtime contributor to the British daily Tea Guardian, is the author of dozens of articles on threats to the environment and indigenous peoples in the Amazon, and was preparing a book on the subject. He was guided by Bruno Pereira, 41, who worked for many years at Funai, the National Indian Foundation, a Brazilian government structure dedicated to indigenous peoples. This recognized specialist was in particular in contact with isolated peoples of the Javari Valley, a remote region in the far west of the state of Amazonas.
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The two men traveled together by boat through the region, where they conducted interviews for the book by Dom Phillips. They were last seen on June 5 as they boarded a boat in the locality of Sao Gabriel. They were to go to the city of Atalaia do Norte, located in eastern Brazil, on the border with Peru. The two men never reached their destination.
Conflicting information circulates on the discovery of human remains
Words from Jair Bolsonaro raise fears of a dramatic outcome. “Everything suggests that they have been harmed”the Brazilian president said on CBN radio on Monday. “Human viscera were found floating in the river and brought to Brasilia to identify the DNA. (…) Vu the time that has passed, it will be very difficult to find them alive. I pray to God that this is the case, but the information we have makes us fear otherwise.”
The day before, contradictory information had circulated about the possible discovery of two bodies. “We are awaiting confirmation from the federal police to find out whether or not it is Dom and Bruno. We remain anxious while waiting”Dominique Davies, Dom Phillips’ niece, told AFP on Monday morning. The journalist’s wife made similar comments to TV Globo, saying she had been informed by the Brazilian Embassy in the United Kingdom. But Beatriz Munoz, the wife of Bruno Pereira, then denied this information: “The federal police, who are required to inform the families first (…) confirmed to us that no body had been found. We should know where the ambassador got this information from”she wrote on Twitter.
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The federal police, for their part, simply specified that “biological material” and personal effects of the two missing were being analyzed. The Union of Indigenous Peoples of the Javari Valley (Univaja), which is carrying out incessant research, also declares that no body has been found at this stage.
Two suspects arrested
The criminal track is seriously considered by the investigators. The latter are now turning their attention to a 41-year-old man, Amarildo Costa de Oliveira. The personal effects of the two missing were indeed found near his house. Police recovered a health card, pants, sandals and a pair of boots belonging to Bruno Pereira, as well as another pair of boots and a backpack containing Dom Phillips’ personal clothing.
This suspect was remanded in custody on June 7. Ammunition reserved for the army was also discovered at his home. The police took traces of blood on his boat and are carrying out analyzes to determine the origin – human or animal. Presented by the Brazilian press as a fisherman from Sao Gabriel, he denies any involvement in the disappearance of the two men.
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However, witnesses quoted by an indigenous representative say they saw Amarildo Costa de Oliveira traveling at high speed aboard a boat going in the same direction as the boat of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira. According to Globo 1, Univaja had already denounced this man in April: it accuses him of illegal fishing activities on indigenous lands, and of having taken part in several attacks with firearms against a protection base. environmental, in 2018 and 2019.
A second suspect was arrested on Tuesday, June 15. 41 years old and “suspected of involvement in the case”, this man must be taken into custody, announced the Brazilian federal police. Officers also seized firearm cartridges and a paddle during a search. No link between the two suspects has yet been specified by an official source.
The case has a very political dimension.
While deforestation has increased sharply in the Amazon since the start of Jair Bolsonaro’s mandate in 2019, the disappearance of these two defenders of indigenous Amazonian peoples revives political questions. On Monday, dozens of residents demonstrated in Atalaia do Norte to demand answers from the authorities and denounce their reluctance to launch searches. A criticism shared by the Alicia Patterson Foundation, which had enabled Dom Phillips to obtain a funding scholarship: “Search efforts have been slow and army and navy units have yet to be sent to the area.”regretted a press release published three days after the disappearance.
Bruno Pereira’s action in defense of indigenous peoples had earned him regular threats, including death. As for Dom Phillips, “it had to be [son] last trip to the Amazon”reports the Guardian. The journalist had worked with Bruno Pereira since 2018, when the latter was still working for Funai. According to the British daily, their work was “became much more difficult” the following year, when Jair Bolsonaro took over the presidency of Brazil, because “the far-right ex-captain of the army has never hidden 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 has never been solved. The NGO Human Rights Watch then revealed that 300 defenders of the Amazon rainforest had been killed in ten years, with just 14 trials at stake.