Brazilian authorities are investigating the disappearance of British journalist Dom Phillips and indigenous expert Bruno Pereira in the Amazon rainforest. It writes The Guardian. The two men have been missing since Sunday morning, when they were on their way to the town of Atalaja do Norte by motorboat. On Wednesday, Brazilian police said they had arrested a man connected to the case. The person in question must have been in possession of drugs, a shotgun, and military ammunition. Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira is one of Brazil’s foremost experts on indigenous peoples and nature conservation. Photo: – / AFP Received death threats Before they disappeared, Phillips (57) and Pereira (41) must have received death threats. “We know who you are, and we will find you and put you in place,” it said in a letter, according to the newspaper O Globo. The area is known for, among other things, illegal mining and drug smuggling. Since 2009, more than 300 people have been killed as a result of conflicts over resource use in the Amazon, writes Human Rights Watch. Phillips, who has long written for The Guardian, is currently working on a book on rainforest protection. Pereira is employed by the Brazilian indigenous agency Funai. Guardian journalist Dom Phillips and activist Bruno Araújo Pereira were on their way to the Amazon city of Atalaja do Norte before being reported missing. Bolsonaro: – Anything can happen On Tuesday, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro speculated about what may have happened to the two men. – Two people in a boat in such an area, in the middle of the wilderness. It’s an inexplicable adventure. Anything can happen. Maybe they had an accident, maybe they were executed, Bolsonaro said in an interview with the news agency AFP. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro comments on the missing journalist Dom Phillips. Bolsonaro has previously received strong criticism from climate and indigenous activists for its deforestation policy in the Amazon. Nevertheless, the president expressed hope that Phillips and Pereira would be found. – We hope and pray to God that they will be found soon. Our security forces are working hard in the area, Bolsonaro said. – Wild west tendencies Social geographer Torkjell Leira has been a lot in the Western Amazon when he worked for the Norwegian Society for Nature Conservation. He is now a senior adviser at the Climate House at the Natural History Museum. Photo: Private Social Geographer and Brazil expert Torkjell Leira has been a lot in the same areas as Phillips and Pereira. – As an indigenous activist and critical journalist, it is very challenging to be in the Western Amazon. Dozens of activists are killed there every year, and there are long distances. There are some Wild West trends, the expert explains. He thinks it looks dark for the two missing. – Phillips and Pereira are very public figures, they have been threatened with death and followed by boat. Now they have been missing for almost a week, and then I think there is a high probability that they have been executed, Leira sighs. Controversial Bolsonaro Leira believes Bolsonaro’s statements about hope are crocodile tears: – Bolsonaro views indigenous peoples and journalists as a stone in the shoe, and only tries to minimize the political damage. When he says that work is in full swing, he is doing it against his better judgment. According to the activist group Univaja, only six police officers have arrived in the area, and Bolsonaro has long worked to undermine all conservation work done in the Amazon, Leira points out. A protester with a Jair Bolsonaro mask holds a fake chainsaw during a demonstration against the president’s deforestation policy in Rio de Janeiro, 5 September 2019. Photo: Silvia Izquierdo / AP The president has previously cut significantly in Brazil’s conservation budget, and Greenpeace has called him a disaster for the environment ». Since Bolsonaro came to power, both deforestation and the killing of climate and indigenous activists have skyrocketed. Bolsonaro has previously written off the criticism, claiming that the Amazon rainforest is “practically untouched”. He blames “false and sensationalist” media. Dom Phillips’ wife, Alessandra Sampaio, is asking the authorities to intensify their search for Phillips and Pereira. You must find the love of my life Dom Phillips’ wife, Alessandra Sampaio, posted a video on social media on Tuesday. – I would ask the authorities to intensify the search efforts. We still have some hope of finding them. Even if I do not meet the love of my life again, they must be found. Please intensify your search, said a tear-stained Sampaio. According to the police in the state of Amazonas, five people have so far been questioned in the case, one of whom is a suspect.
ttn-69
– An unspeakable adventure – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
