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Dom Phillips, British journalist, missing in Brazil’s Javari Valley


Journalists Dom Phillips and Bruno Araújo Pereira, an employee of Brazil’s National Fund for Indigenous Peoples (FUNAI), have been missing for more than 30 hours, according to the Indigenous Foundation Coordinator.

The organization, known as UNIVAJA, said that satellite information showed the couple’s last known location in the community of São Rafael early Sunday morning, where they were expected to meet a leader. local, who never showed up.

The missing couple then planned to make a two-hour trip to Atalaia do Norte, but never arrived, the organization said Sunday it deployed two rescue teams to search for them. .

Home to thousands of indigenous people and about 16 unrelated populations, the Javari Valley is an area of ​​dense rivers and forests that makes access very difficult.

The search for Phillips and Pereira is underway. The Brazilian federal prosecutor’s office and the federal police are investigating the disappearance, and according to Eliesio Marubo, legal representative of UNIVAJA, the Navy and state military police are also participating in the search effort.

Amazonas Governor Wilson Lima ordered the deployment of a dedicated police force to strengthen search and rescue operations.

These women are fighting for their native land and the existence of the Amazon

Death threats reported

In a press release on Monday, UNIVAJA stated that Phillips and Pereira received death threats before they went missing.

“We stress that during the week of the disappearance, according to reports from UNIVAJA staff, the research team received threats at the scene. The threat was not the first,” the statement said. said.

The area is under government protection, but continued incursions by land grabbers, illegal miners, illegal hunters and former illegal fishermen have caused bloody conflict.

In September 2019, another indigenous affairs officer, Maxciel Pereira dos Santos, was murdered in the same area, according to the Brazilian Prosecutor’s Office.

In a statement, a union group representing workers at Brazil’s indigenous protection agency FUNAI cited evidence that the killing of dos Santos was in retaliation for efforts to combat commercial exploitation. illegal in the Javari Valley, Reuters reported at the time.

Phillips visits a mine in Roraima State, Brazil, on November 14, 2019.

FUNAI, the government agency that protects indigenous peoples, told CNN it was monitoring the incident, but stressed that Pereira was not on duty when he disappeared.

Phillips is a longtime contributor to the UK’s The Guardian newspaper, and the publication’s global environment editor Johnathan Watts has called on Brazilian authorities to act quickly.

“Dom Phillips, a brilliant journalist, frequent Guardian contributor and great friend, is missing in the Javari Valley of the Amazon following death threats to his traveling companion, Bruno Pereira, who are also missing. Calling on the Brazilian authorities to urgently launch a search operation,” Watts tweeted Monday.

“The Guardian is deeply concerned and is urgently seeking information on Mr. Phillips’ whereabouts and condition. We are in contact with the British embassy in Brazil and local and national authorities to try to confirm prove the facts as soon as possible,” the publication said. an article about Phillips Monday.

The British Council is in contact with the Brazilian authorities, as Phillips is a British citizen. “We are contacting local authorities in Brazil following reports of a British citizen missing in the Amazon region. We are providing consular assistance to his family,” said Diego Lobo of the British Council. told CNN.

‘The safety of journalism professionals’

Press organizations have expressed concern about the disappearance, noting the pervasive risk of illegal mining activities in the area.

Indigenous boys & # 39;  Drowning leads to allegations of illegal fishing

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on Monday tweeted, “CPJ is deeply concerned by the news that journalist Dom Phillips has gone missing during a reporting trip in the Brazilian Amazon. We appeal to journalists. Brazilian authorities urgently step up efforts to find Phillips.”

The Association of Foreign Press Correspondents in Brazil and the Association of Foreign Correspondents of São Paulo meanwhile called for “immediate action” from Brazilian authorities.

“We also ask the Brazilian government to take strong action to ensure the safety of journalistic professionals, Brazilians and foreigners, who work in that area and who have been subjected to many threats. for their work in this unusual area of ​​exploitative conflict,” they said in a statement.



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