Ten days ago British journalist Dom Phillips and Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira went disappeared while returning from a four-day reporting trip in the Javari region of the Amazon. Some of their belongings, including clothes and a laptop, were found on Sunday. Phillips had been living in Brazil for over ten years and was working on a book about the Amazon. As a specialist on tribes in the Amazon, Pereira was introducing him to his contacts and friends. Illegal fishing and poaching has become widespread. Cocaine trafficking is well-known, as the region sits right on the border with Peru and Colombia. It was this conflict that Phillips and Pereira were documenting.
Devastating fires and sweeping cuts to indigenous protection budgets have led to increased tensions between the Brazilian government and tribes over the last few years. The disappearances have brought new attention to the dangerous environmental policies under President Jair Bolsonaro. Deforestation of the forest has risen to a 15-year high, the indigenous protection agency FUNAI has been weakened, surveillance has fallen, as too have fines doled out to those who break the law. The response by the Brazilian government to this situation has angered the families. Last week, Bolsonaro seemed to blame the two men for venturing into a dangerous area of the country. Just today Brazil’s ambassador to the UK apologized to families for incorrect claims that bodies had been found in the search operation. Roberto Doring, deputy head of mission at the Brazilian embassy in London, called the families on Monday to tell them that bodies had been found.
Police in Brazil say they have arrested a second man in connection with “the alleged murder” of Phillips and Pereira.
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