ROME. A veteran of environmental journalism, Dom Phillips, 57, from England, has disappeared into thin air in one of the most remote areas of the Amazon rainforest, after receiving serious threats, apparently from garimpeiros, illegal miners, or loggers, or poachers. . He is missing along with a Brazilian expert on indigenous issues, Bruno Araújo Pereira, a former government official charged with protecting the remote tribes of Brazil, who in turn has been receiving similar threats for some time because of his commitment to him.
Phillips is working on a book on the environment with support from the Alicia Patterson Foundation. For over 15 years she has lived in the Brazilian city of Salvador and for over 15 years she has written about Brazil for various newspapers, including the Guardianil Washington Postil New York Times and the Financial Times. The Univaja indigenous tribe reported that Phillips and Pereira had set out last week by boat to an area known as Lago do Jaburu, in the Javari region, a vast expanse of jungle inhabited by more than 20 indigenous tribes. On Sunday they are believed to have left along the river to return to Atalaia do Norte, where they were expected after about three hours, but never arrived. So a search team was sent, but they could not find them and the alarm was therefore raised.
After a meeting between the Minister of Justice, Anderson Torres, and the Attorney General of the Republic, Augusto Aras, the federal police were sent to the research area, with the support of the river authorities. And the federal police, reports the newspaper The globe, arrested two men, nicknamed “Churrasco” and “Janeo”, who are now being held in the police station of Atalaia do Norte, in western Amazon, for questioning. But the breakthrough in research has not yet arrived and there is enough to be highly anxious.
The Brazilian government said today that it is accompanying the journalist’s research “with zeal”. The Foreign Ministry reported that “the Brazilian government will continue to accompany the investigation with the zeal that the case requires, making efforts to promptly find the British press professional and the official of the National Indian Foundation (Funai).” in which the disappearance is the result of a criminal action, “all measures will be taken to bring the authors to justice,” adds the statement released today by the dicastery.
Also worried was Inacio Lula da Silva, former president of Brazil and candidate in the elections on 2 October. “Phillips interviewed me for the Guardian in 2017. I hope both are found quickly and are safe and sound, ”he tweeted. But even more apprehensive seems to be Beto Marubo, an important indigenous leader of the region: «We need an urgent research mission. We need the police, we need the army, we need the firefighters, we need the civil protection forces. We have no time to waste ».