Disappearance of indigenist and journalist completes one week; friends and family mobilize throughout the country

Ívina Garcia – From Cenarium Magazine

MANAUS – A week ago, the indigenist Bruno Pereira and the journalist Dom Phillips disappeared during a trip on the Itaquaí river, in Atalaia do Norte, in the coutryside of Amazonas state. Dom was producing a book about the Vale do Javari region, where isolated and recently contacted indigenous people live. Bruno was on leave from Funai and accompanied Dom on the trip.

The Union of Vale do Javari Indigenous Peoples (Univaja) was the first organization to report on the disappearance. Still on Sunday, 5, community members and indigenous people began to search the river and requested the support of the Military and Federal Police.

The search began to rely on aerial and river equipment from various security forces, among them civil police, military, army, navy and air force. The Federal Police interrogated more than 10 people and arrested one suspect, identified as Amarildo da Costa de Oliveira, aka “Pelado”.

Read more: Dom Phillips and Bruno case: Justice decrees temporary arrest of suspect for disappearances in Amazonas

The materials seized with Amarildo, on June 9, included a restricted-use gun and bullets. At the beginning of the case, the police said there was no evidence of a connection between Amarildo and the missing people, but later, forensics found blood on the boat used by him.

On Friday, 10, an organic material, possibly human, was located by the Federal Police in the port of Atalaia do Norte, being sent to the National Institute of Criminalistics of the Federal Police.

Read more: Federal Police of AM finds organic material ‘apparently human’ near the port of Atalaia do Norte

During Saturday, 12, the Federal Police denied that bodies of the duo had been found. “The news that are circulating in social networks in the sense that the bodies of the missing have been found are unfounded”, informs an excerpt from the note of the Federal Police of Amazonas.

Movements

This Sunday morning, friends and family of Bruno and Dom held events in defense of indigenous peoples and asked for more support in the search for the indigenous activist and the journalist. The meetings were registered in Pará, Rio de Janeiro and Brasília.

The mobilizations are based on a desire to speed up the search. Bruno is a career employee of the National Indian Foundation (Funai) and a well-known advocate for indigenous causes, he even denounced threats and invasions before the disappearance.

One week of the disappearance is marked by acts in cities all over Brazil (Promotion)

Act for Bruno and Dom

The British journalist, Dom Phillips, has been in Brazil for 15 years and has collaborated with the “Washington Post”, “The New York Times” and “Financial Times” newspapers. He is known for loving the Amazon and often reports on the environmental crisis in Brazil and the difficulties faced by indigenous peoples.