How Brazil's Javari Valley became a criminal haven
ByAFP
Published June 14, 2022
Members of the Union of Indigenous Peoples of the Javari Valley (UNIVAJA), look for clues to the whereabouts of veteran correspondent Dom Phillips and respected indigenous specialist Bruno Pereira - Copyright POOL/AFP GONZALO FUENTES
Marcelo SILVA DE SOUSA
The far-flung Amazon region where a British journalist and a Brazilian indigenous expert disappeared has become a haven for drug trafficking and environmental crimes because of increasing lawlessness and an absent state, experts say.
The Javari Valley, where veteran correspondent Dom Phillips and respected indigenous specialist Bruno Pereira disappeared on June 5, is one of the remotest places on Earth, a vast expanse of thick jungle in northwestern Brazil near the Peruvian and Colombian borders.
Phillips, 57, and Pereira, 41, were last seen boating up the Itaquai river just outside the Javari Valley Indigenous Reservation, a territory bigger than Austria that is home to an estimated 6,300 indigenous inhabitants, including 19 uncontacted tribes.
The region is suffering from a surge of criminal activity, blamed on drug gangs with links to other crimes including illegal fishing on indigenous lands — something Pereira had long fought, making him a target of death threats.
Read more: https://www.digitaljournal.com/world/how-brazils-javari-valley-became-a-criminal-haven/article#ixzz7WEcs8vQL