Illegal businesses form an interlocking web in the Brazilian remote region where Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira were killed, threatening Indigenous communities and local ecology
Near a sharp bend on the Itaquaí River, perched on a steep muddy bank, a lone wooden structure marks the last outpost of a fragile resistance., an isolated stilted shack he hoped could help curb the rampant organised crime which threatens the pristine rainforest of the remote Javari Valley, the ecosystems within it and the Indigenous communities who call it home.
Pereira had slept on the right side of the building, which overlooks a small estuary used by illegal fisherman to enter a lake with thousands of valuable pirarucu fish – and a pathway into Indigenous land that evades a government checkpoint a few miles upstream.“The fishermen get very angry if we don’t let them through,” Da Silva says, pointing to the stream, where a shaggy crested Amazon kingfisher sits on a branch scouring the water.
Pereira had worked with villagers here, trying to steer them away from illegal fishing – many of the river’s species are subject to strict regulation to manage stocks, and it is prohibited to fish in Indigenous territory further upstream. But a single pirarucu, one of the world’s largest freshwater fish, which grows to over 100 kilograms, can be sold for $1,000 at market price, while a single Amazon river turtle can be sold for $200.
Saraiva served as superintendent for the state of Amazonas until 2021, when he was sidelined by the Bolsonaro administration after leading