Brazil police make second arrest in Amazon disappearance
June 15, 2022
Brazilian police arrested a fisherman, who is the brother of the prime suspect, in the case of the disappearance of Bruno Pereira and Dom Philips. The search for the two is still ongoing.
Federal officers have found personal items during their search.Image: Edmar Barros/AP Photo/picture alliance
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Brazil's federal police said Tuesday they arrested a second suspect in connection with the disappearance of Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira and British journalist Dom Philips in a remote area of the Amazon.
The suspect, Oseney da Costa de Oliveira, is a fisherman. He is also the brother of the prime suspect in the case, Amarildo da Costa de Oliveira, nicknamed "Pelado." Both are aged 41.
The police also said they recovered ammunition and an oar.
On Friday, Oseney told AP news agency that he had visited Pelado in jail and was told that local police had tortured him.
Indigenous people who were with Philips and Pereira said Pelado had brandished a rifle at the two men, shortly before they went missing. Witnesses said they saw Peraldo pass at high speed onboard a boat going in the same direction as the boat in which Phillips and Pereira were traveling.
Peraldo's boat has been seized, and traces of blood on the boat are being analyzed. Personal belongings of the two missing men were found underwater near the home of Pelado.
Pereira, 41, and Phillips, 57, were last seen June 5 near the entrance of the Javari Valley Indigenous Territory, which borders Peru and Colombia.
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Search continues
Authorities had found a backpack, laptop, and other objects submerged in a river on Sunday. However, police on Monday dismissed media reports that the bodies of the two men had been found. The search is still ongoing.
In a letter addressed to the Phillips family, seen by Reuters agency, the Brazilian ambassador in London apologized on Tuesday for passing on incorrect information that bodies had been discovered.
"We understand that we are heading toward the end. The search area has been further reduced," said Eliesio Marubo, a lawyer for Indigenous group Univaja.
Authorities had opened a larger channel in the brush leading to the creek where the belongings were found, allowing for bigger boats to gain access to expand the search, a witness told Reuters.
The pair's disappearance has caused global consternation, with activists, advocates, and environmentalists urging Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro to step up the search.
Indigenous protesters, carrying banners depicting the faces of the two men, walked to Brazil's Ministry of Justice in capital Brasilia on Tuesday to demand answers.
Bolsonaro said last week that the two men "were on an adventure that is not recommended" and speculated they could have been executed.
tg/jcg (AFP, AP, Reuters)
Indigenous people protest land restrictions in Brazil
With feather headdresses and body paint, thousands of indigenous demonstrators camped out in Brasilia to protest President Jair Bolsonaro's policies and an initiative that could take away their ancestral lands.
Image: Carl de Souza/AFP
Fight for Life
Women from the Krenak tribe are part of the "Fight for Life" protest camp, which opened Sunday and will hold a week of demos and other activities against what the organizers, the Association of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB), call Bolsonaro's "anti-indigenous agenda," seeking to exert pressure ahead of a crucial Supreme Court ruling on native lands.
Image: Carl de Souza/AFP
Protecting their lands
Protesters hold a banner that reads "Genocidaires, your fate is the Hague court" during a protest outside the Supreme Court building. Indigenous groups in Brazil accuse Bolsonaro of systematically attacking their rights and trying to open their lands to agribusiness and mining.
Image: Carl de Souza/AFP
Different tribes, one aim
The latest camp opened peacefully. Organizers said there were 4,000 indigenous protesters from 117 ethnic groups. The protests have peaked with a Supreme Court case opening Wednesday on the issue of how indigenous lands are protected.
Image: Carl de Souza/AFP
Staying hopeful despite setbacks
Women of the Huni Kuin tribe attend a ceremony at the protest camp. Brazil is home to around 900,000 indigenous people. They make up less than 0.5% of the population of 212 million, but their reservations cover some 13% of the country.
Image: Carl de Souza/AFP
Bill could weaken land claims
The agribusiness lobby says Brazil's constitutional protection of indigenous lands should only apply to those whose inhabitants were present in 1988, when the current constitution was adopted. However, indigenous rights activists say native inhabitants were often forced off their ancestral lands, including under the 1964-1985 military dictatorship, which wanted to develop the Amazon rainforest.
Image: Carl de Souza/AFP
Case of the century
Having now returned, the indigenous people should have the right to benefit from the protected status of official reservations, their lawyers argue. The case centers on a reservation in the southern state of Santa Catarina, but will set legal precedent for dozens of similar cases throughout Brazil. Protest organizers have called it "the most important court case of the century."
Image: Carl de Souza/AFP
Destruction of the Amazon
Environmentalists say protecting the indigenous reservations is one of the best ways to stop the destruction of the Amazon, a critical resource in the race to curb climate change. Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has surged since Bolsonaro took office in 2019.
