British journalist and Brazilian researcher are missing in remote Amazon jungles
A British journalist for the Guardian and a former government official have been missing for over 24 hours in Brazil while reporting on tribes in the Amazon rain forest that are threatened by criminal gangs who illegally deforest and mine for gold in a remote area of the jungle near the Peruvian border.
The Guardian, one of the United Kingdom’s largest daily newspapers, said that their longtime contributor Dom Phillips was traveling with Bruno Araújo Pereira, a former government official who worked for Brazil’s indigenous protection agency (FUNAI) in the Vale do Javari, a vast area of thick, sparsely populated jungle on Brazil’s western border in the Amazon.
The Vale do Javari is considered to have the largest concentration of isolated indigenous tribes that have had little or no contact with the outside world. Phillips has previously reported on the increasing danger that isolated tribes face as miners and loggers encroach on the region.
Two indigenous rights’ groups in Brazil issued a statement on Monday morning saying that Phillips and Pereira have received “threats” in the past week while reporting in the region, a lawless part of Brazil where authorities and law enforcement are scarce and journalists and land defenders regularly disappear. Deforestation and other environmental crimes in the Amazon have been on the rise in recent years and Brazil is consistently among the most dangerous countries in killings of environmental defenders.
The indigenous groups said the pair left the small riverside community of São Rafael in the state of Amazonas shortly after 6 a.m. Sunday and should have arrived at their next destination roughly two hours later. A search and rescue group went out at 2 p.m. Sunday but didn’t find any trace of Phillips and Pereira.
The two indigenous groups, the Union of Indigenous Organizations of the Vale do Javari and the Observatory of Human Rights of Isolated and Recently Contacted Indigenous People, stressed that Pereira has “deep” knowledge of the area from being the government’s regional coordinator for years. They said the pair were traveling in a new boat with a 40-horsepower engine and gasoline.
Phillips, a UK citizen, lives in Salvador, in Brazil’s northeast. After more than a decade contributing to outlets including the Guardian, The Washington Post and The New York Times, he is writing a book about deforestation in the Amazon rain forest under a fellowship from the Alicia Patterson foundation.
“The Guardian is very concerned and is urgently seeking information about Mr Phillips’ whereabouts and condition,” the newspaper said. “We are in contact with the British embassy in Brazil and local and national authorities to try to establish the facts as soon as possible.”
This story was originally published June 6, 2022 at 2:17 PM.
