June 8, 2022

09:06

Bruno Pacheco – from Amazon Agency

MANAUS – The legal advisor of the Union of Indigenous Peoples of Vale do Javari (Univaja), Yura Marubo, said on Tuesday, 7, that there is no effective supervision in the region of Vale do Javari, in Amazonas countryside, where the indigenist Bruno Pereira and journalist Dom Phillips disappeared. In a press conference, Yura called the search for the National Indian Foundation (FUNAI) activist and the journalist from ‘The Guardian’ late.

See also: Helicopter with federal police and Army is sent to help in the search for missing people in AM

“There is no interest. Nobody does an effective inspection. And it’s not a one-time thing, but something that goes back a long time. The further away the indigenous lands are, the bigger the problems are, and the population doesn’t know about it, because you can’t get to these places with the expensive logistics”, lamented Yura Marubo.

In the interview, the legal advisor explained that the place where Bruno and Phillips disappeared is extremely isolated and said that it has severe problems involving drug dealers, loggers, businessmen, fishermen, and mining companies. According to Yura, these invaders enter the Vale do Javari Indigenous Land with the inertia of the police and inspection authorities.

“We don’t have the police power installed in these places, which facilitates and falls to the indigenous people, the indigenous organization, the role of doing the inspection, the control, the apprehension, the presentation of these criminals to the authorities. In other words, the role of these isolated places is inverted. The Brazilian State has no power in these places, because it is not present”, he lamented.

Yura reaffirms that the Javari Valley is not a land for amateurs and that, for this reason, only professionals with great knowledge of the region work there and are assigned to stay in these places. According to Maruba, the problems in the indigenous land have been going on for approximately four decades and the violations against the traditional populations are not taken seriously.

“The Javari Valley is centered and is known, worldwide, as the second largest indigenous land in Brazil, where it has the largest population of isolated peoples in the world. It is a border area with Peru and this problem happened in international waters. The indigenous issue of Vale do Javari is very sensitive, it worries us”, he pondered.

Loss of contact

According to the advisor, Univaja treats the disappearance, so far, as a ‘loss of contact’, because Bruno Pereira knew, like few others, the Indigenous Land of Vale do Javari. “Unknowledge of the aerea is ruled out. Bruno was an expert in both bushwalking and boating, having worked for a long time with the isolated indigenous peoples of the Javari Valley”, he emphasized.

At the press conference, Yura Marubo described how the activist and the journalist disappeared and highlighted that as soon as Univaja noticed Bruno and Phillips’ disappearance, a team from the organization was sent to actively search for them. Without success, the institution sought the competent police and inspection authorities to help in the search.

“The institution did its role in communicating. However, the return was late. And even though we did not expect any action from either the federal government or the state government, [Univaja] took the appropriate measures to search, on its own, for Bruno Pereira and Dom Phillips,” emphasized Marubo.

“After the disappearance of the English journalist appeared in the international media, the authorities began to take notice of the dynamics and the problem that was happening. They were forced, precisely, to do a full active search,” continued the adviser.

Also according to the advisor, about 60 people are working in the search for the missing, in a space of 200 kilometers, where there was the last communication with Bruno and Phillips, up to the municipality of Atalaia do Norte. According to the legal adviser, the team working in the region includes two groups of 20 people from the indigenous institution.

Remember

The case happened on Sunday 5, when Bruno Pereira and Dom Phillips were on their way from the riverside community of São Rafael to the city of Atalaia do Norte. The indigenist was already constantly threatened for his actions against invaders in the region: fishermen, gold miners and loggers. The journalist, passionate about Brazil, was known for his reports denouncing violations of indigenous rights and was working on a book about the environment.