BRITISH JOURNALIST AND INDIGENOUS PROTECTOR ARE MISSING IN BRAZILIAN AMAZON AFTER REPORTED THREATS
Dom Phillips and Bruno Araújo Pereira were last seen traveling by boat on Sunday morning, returning from a reporting trip.
Andrew Fishman
June 6 2022, 2:47 p.m.
A SEARCH IS underway for a British journalist and a senior staffer of Brazil’s Indigenous protection agency, FUNAI, who went missing during a boat trip on Sunday morning in a remote region of the Amazon rainforest.
Dom Phillips, a freelance reporter with more than 14 years of experience covering the Amazon, was traveling to the Javari Valley, near the triple border of Peru, Colombia, and Brazil, for a book he is writing about environmental issues. He was accompanied by Bruno Araújo Pereira, a veteran Indigenous rights protector who supervised the region for years for FUNAI and who has reportedly received many death threats for his work defending Indigenous groups in the region against illegal mining, fishing, and logging. The area is also known to be an active smuggling route for drug traffickers.
The two men were traveling on the Ituí and Itaqui rivers, returning to the town of Atalaia do Norte, in the state of Amazonas, after a multiday trip to visit with FUNAI agents and Indigenous communities, according to a statement from the Union of Indigenous Organizations of Javari Valley and the Observatory for Human Rights for Isolated and Recently Contacted Indigenous Peoples. The men had received threats during their journey, according to the statement, which did not specify the source of the threats.
“It should be noted that Bruno Pereira is an experienced person with a deep knowledge of the region,” read the statement from the two groups. “The two missing men were traveling with a new boat, a 40 [horsepower engine], 70 liters of gasoline, enough for the trip and 7 empty drums of fuel.”
More:
https://theintercept.com/2022/06/06/british-journalist-dom-phillips-missing-brazil-amazon/
Dom Phillips, holding the microphone.
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‘Every second counts’: wife of British journalist missing in Amazon urges action
Alessandra Sampaio, wife of Dom Phillips, tells Brazilian authorities: ‘Please answer the urgency of the moment with urgent actions’
Tom Phillips in Rio de Janeiro
Mon 6 Jun 2022 20.07 EDT
The wife of a British journalist who has gone missing in a remote corner of the Brazilian Amazon notorious for illegal mining and drug trafficking has urged authorities to intensify their search efforts.
Dom Phillips, a longtime Guardian contributor, vanished on Sunday morning while journeying by boat through the Javari region of Amazonas state where he was reporting for a book he is writing about conservation.
Alessandra Sampaio, who lives with her husband in the north-eastern city of Salvador, said in statement: “Brazilian authorities, our families are in despair. Please answer the urgency of the moment with urgent actions.
“As I make this appeal they have been missing for more than 30 hours … [and] in the forest every second counts, every second could be the difference between life and death,” Sampaio added.
More:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/07/british-journalist-dom-phillips-missing-amazon-brazil-wife-calls-for-urgency
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British Journalist, Indigenous Expert Missing in Brazil Following Threats
Staff Writer by Staff Writer 06/06/22
British journalist Dom Phillips talks to two indigenous men in Brazil, November 16, 2019. Photo: Joao Laet/AFP
A British journalist and a Brazilian indigenous expert have gone missing in a remote region of the Amazon rainforest after receiving threats, authorities and indigenous-rights groups said Monday, raising fears for their safety.
Veteran foreign correspondent Dom Phillips, 57, went missing while researching a book in the Brazilian Amazon’s Javari Valley with respected indigenous expert Bruno Pereira, said The Guardian newspaper, where Phillips has been a longtime contributor.
The pair had traveled by boat to Jaburu lake, in the northern state of Amazonas near Brazil’s border with Peru, and were expected to return to the city of Atalaia do Norte by around 9:00 am Sunday, two rights groups said in a statement.
The men had “received threats in the field” last week, said the groups, the Union of Indigenous Organizations of the Javari Valley (UNIVAJA) and the Observatory for the Human Rights of Isolated and Recently Contacted Indigenous Peoples (OPI).
More:
https://theglobepost.com/2022/06/06/british-journalist-missing-amazon-rainforest/
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rea has been marked by violent conflicts; pair reportedly threatened during reporting trip
The Associated Press · Posted: Jun 06, 2022 7:29 PM ET | Last Updated: 37 minutes ago
British journalist Dom Phillips, right, and a Yanomami Indigenous man walk in the Maloca Papiu region of Brazil, in November 2019. Phillips and Indigenous affairs expert Bruno Araujo Pereira have been reported missing in a remote part of Brazil's Amazon, a local Indigenous association said Monday. (Joao Laet/The Associated Press)
A British journalist and an Indigenous affairs expert are missing in a remote part of Brazil's Amazon region, a local Indigenous association said Monday. The area has been marked by violent conflicts between fishermen, poachers and government agents.
Dom Phillips, who has been a regular contributor to the Guardian newspaper, and Bruno Araujo Pereira were last seen at 7 a.m. local time Sunday in the Sao Rafael community, according to the Univaja association of Indigenous people in the Vale do Javari, for which Pereira has been an adviser.
They were returning by boat from the Vale do Javari and bound for the city of Atalaia do Norte, about an hour away, but never showed up.
Pereira, currently on leave from his post with Brazil's Indigenous affairs agency, is one of its most experienced employees operating within the Vale do Javari area. He oversaw the agency's regional office and the co-ordination of isolated Indigenous groups before taking leave. He has received a steady stream of threats from illegal fishermen and poachers, and usually carries a gun.
More:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/missing-journalist-brazil-amazon-rainforest-1.6479605
