The Attorney General of the Republic, Augusto Aras, was in Amazonas this Sunday, 19, to follow the unfolding of the murder of the indigenist Bruno Pereira and the British reporter Dom Phillips.
Aras traveled to Tabatinga, where the headquarters of the Federal Public Ministry (MPF) is located closest to the crime scene and with competence to act in the region. The attorney general said that he returned to Brasilia “with a willingness to move the State authorities to defend the Amazon and its citizens, isolated or not”.
The first meeting was with representatives of the Army, Federal Police (PF) and National Indian Foundation (Funai) to discuss joint actions against criminal organizations operating in the region and against violations of indigenous rights.
Afterwards, Aras met with the Secretary of Public Security of Amazonas, Alberto Rodrigues, the Attorney General of Justice of the State, Alberto Rodrigues, and the prosecutor Elanderson Lima Duarte, who is following the case for the Public Ministry of Amazonas.
The third meeting was with five indigenous leaders, who reported how the communities have been monitoring the territory instead of the Security Forces, mainly against illegal fishing. They asked for support in the Vale do Javari region. The area on the border with Peru and Colombia has become one of the most dangerous in the country, with invasions by drug traffickers, miners, loggers and poachers.
The Union of Indigenous Peoples of Vale do Javari (Univaja) says that before the murder of Bruno and Dom, it alerted the authorities, including the Federal Public Ministry, but the problem of lack of security in the region was not resolved.
“The competent authorities, responsible for the territorial protection and our lives, have ignored our complaints, minimizing the damage, even after the murder of our partners, Pereira and Phillips”, says the statement released on Friday, 17, by the entity.
Since 2018, the MPF has been taking action together with the Federal Public Defender’s Office to force the federal government and Funai to expand the inspection of indigenous lands in the Amazon.
In a note released after the crime, the Federal Prosecutor’s Office for Citizens’ Rights said that the “public power has systematically neglected its obligation to preserve both the environment and indigenous peoples”.
“It is urgent that the Union reinforce the performance of the control bodies in that region of the country. Security forces support Funai agents on a daily basis, in order to preserve their physical integrity and, consequently, the indigenous populations they protect”, says the note signed by prosecutor Carlos Alberto Vilhena.
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