Amazon: personal effects of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira found

British journalist Dom Phillips, right, and a Yanomami native walk in the village of Maloca Papiu, Roraima state, Brazil, in November 2019. AP - Joao Laet

Text by: RFI Follow

3 mins

Research linked to the British journalist Dom Phillips and the Brazilian indigenist Bruno Pereira, who have been missing for a week in a remote area of ​​the Amazon, has reached a turning point with the discovery of personal effects belonging to them.

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“ 

Items belonging to the missing were found: a health card, black pants, a black sandal and a pair of boots belonging to Bruno Pereira, and a pair of boots and a backpack belonging to Dom Phillips and containing clothes personal

 , “said the federal police of the state of Amazonas (in the north-west of Brazil) in a press release on Sunday.

Previously, the Amazonas firefighters had informed the local press of the

discovery of personal items

that may belong to the missing, found " 

near the house

 " of Amarildo Costa de Oliveira, the only detainee in the case.

This 41-year-old man, described as a “ 

suspect

 ”, was taken into custody and traces of blood on his boat were to be analyzed.

Witnesses said they saw him speed past in a boat going in the same direction as the journalist and the native.

Diligent research continues

During this trip, Bruno Pereira, 41, an expert with the Brazilian government agency for indigenous affairs (Funai), served as a guide for Dom Phillips, 57.

This contributor to the British newspaper

The Guardian

was preparing a book on environmental conservation in this region located on the border of Peru and Colombia, which is home to 8.5 million hectares of protected indigenous lands.

According to local indigenous activists, Bruno Pereira was frequently threatened for his fight against encroachment on indigenous lands.

The two men were traveling together by boat through the Javarí Valley region, a remote region in the far west of the Amazonas, conducting interviews for this book.

They were last seen on June 5, in the locality of São Gabriel, not far from their destination, the city of Atalaia do Norte.

Police said on Sunday that the search teams, on the seventh day of work, traveled about 25 kilometers and engaged in " 

careful searches through the jungle, the roads of the region and the flooded vegetation

 " especially in the area .

where a boat believed to belong to the suspect was found.

The Bolsonaro government pointed out by the relatives of the disappeared

Several dozen people, mostly relatives and friends of the two missing, gathered Sunday on the famous Copacabana beach, in Rio de Janeiro, where the British journalist used to paddle every morning before move last year to Salvador (northeast) with his Brazilian wife, Alessandra.

"O professor semper faith uma pessoa maravilhosa, semper ajudou a gente do jeito que podia (...) O desaparecimento dele nos abateu" - Edla Keysi Paixão, aluna de Dom, em projeto social.

Alunos organizaram um ato em Salvator onde pedem celeridade nas buscas por por ele Bruno.

pic.twitter.com/S6LHL0LKh1

— Cecília Olliveira (@Cecillia) June 12, 2022

The government of President Jair Bolsonaro has been criticized by relatives of the disappeared and indigenous groups, and even by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, for its delay in the deployment of searches.

The far-right head of state, who had called the two men's expedition a " 

adventure not recommended

 ", replied Friday at the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles that the armed forces and the police were conducting a " 

research tireless

 " since day one.

To listen: Amazonia: Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira disappeared in "a region without faith or law"

(with

AFP

)

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