Indigenous leaders express frustration at military in search for two men in Brazil
Bruno Pereira and Dom Phillips went missing in the western Amazon, but the search has been called inefficient
Tom Phillips in Atalaia do Norte and Andrew Downie in São Paulo
Sat 11 Jun 2022 11.02 EDT
Indigenous leaders in the area where a British journalist and Brazilian explorer went missing last Sunday have expressed increasing frustration at the lack of coordination in the search for the two men.
Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira and Dom Phillips, a longtime contributor to the Guardian, were last seen on Sunday morning while traveling by boat on the Itaquaí River in the western Amazon.
They disappeared at the end of a reporting trip but the search was slow to get going and Indigenous leaders criticised the lack of coordination between the different groups sent to the region, including the army, navy and federal police.
“There is no command centre,” said Beto Marubo, a local Indigenous leader.
“They are just going up and down the river, coming and going … they won’t find them [like this].”
The area – a thickly forested region on Brazil’s border with Peru – is home to 26 Indigenous groups and some of them are engaged in the search efforts to locate Pereira, who has spent years helping protect their land from illegal hunters, loggers, and miners.
More:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/11/indigenous-leaders-express-frustration-at-military-in-search-for-bruno-pereira-and-dom-phillips
