Brazil Disappeared in the most dangerous corner of the Amazon
Amazon Worry grows over missing British journalist and Brazilian indigenist
The
Federal Police (PF) of Brazil
will analyze the "traces of blood" found this Thursday on the boat of the only suspect arrested so far as part of the investigations into the disappearance in the Amazon, last Sunday, of a British journalist and a Brazilian indigenist.
British journalist
Dom Phillips,
a contributor to
The Guardian newspaper,
and Brazilian indigenist
Bruno Araújo Pereira
have been missing since Sunday morning in the Javari Valley, a remote and jungle region in the Brazilian Amazon, where they were conducting research to write a book. .
According to a statement from
the Crisis Management Committee,
created on Wednesday to coordinate the search efforts, "traces of blood were found on the boat of
Amarildo da Costa de Oliveira,
41 years old and known as
Pelado,
arrested red-handed on Tuesday." .
"The material collected is on its way to
Manaus -the regional capital-, in the
Black Hawk
tactical helicopter,
to be subjected to expertise," said the committee's statement, headed by the PF and in which the
Civil and Militarized Police also participate.
,
the
regional Fire Department, the Navy and the Army.
Judge
Jacinta Silva dos Santos
accepted the request for "temporary imprisonment" of alias
Pelado,
from whom weapons, ammunition and illegal drugs were seized.
The suspect was seen on Sunday in a boat behind the boat of the disappeared, who were heading by river to the municipality of
Atalaia de Norte.
According to the committee, the so-called
Operation Javarí
covered 100 kilometers of the region by river and air in the last 24 hours and inquiries were made with the inhabitants of the towns of
Santa Cruz, Cachoeira, Sao Gabriel
and
Sao Rafael,
last town where the disappeared were seen alive.
Every hour that passes without concrete news about the disappeared increases the pressure of international organizations on the Brazilian government, accused of having a late reaction in this case.
This Thursday,
Amnesty International (AI)
even urged the authorities of
Colombia
and
Peru
to collaborate in the search for the disappeared, who were in a region near the borders with those countries, in an area where they were conducting an investigation into threats against the natives.
Federal Police of Brazil/EFE
According to AI, "given the failure of the Brazilian authorities to locate the disappeared", it is necessary that the government of President
Jair Bolsonaro
redouble its efforts, as well as international cooperation.
Bolsonaro expressed his desire that "they be found", but admitted the possibility that "they have been executed".
And he said they were reckless because of their "adventure" in a region that has become an area of activity for groups dedicated to illegal logging, fishing, mining and hunting, as well as drug trafficking.
Human Rights Watch (HRW)
had criticized on Wednesday the delay of the local authorities to start the searches, while the Chargé d'Affaires of the Embassy of the
United Kingdom
and interim head of that diplomatic representation,
Melanie Hopkins,
expressed on Thursday her "concern "For the lack of more news.
"We understand that the remote location of the region imposes considerable logistical challenges and we have already asked the Brazilian government to do everything possible to investigate the case and we appreciate the attention given so far," Hopkins said on his Twitter profile.
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