Indigenous expert last seen travelling with British journalist Dom Phillips was ousted from official role after Bolsonaro took office
Pereira’s work there has consisted in helping Indigenous communities organise and monitor their land. The pristine forest area is targeted by illegal hunters and fishers, miners and drug traffickers who covet its natural resources.Any invasions are reported to Funai and law enforcement agencies in the hope they will take action to rebuff the invaders. It is a job that has become more difficult since Bolsonaro began weakening state funding and oversight.
Throughout his career Pereira has advocated a policy of non-contact with isolated tribes, following in the footsteps of celebrated anthropologists and explorers such as Orlando Villas Boas and Sydney Possuelo.aims to leave uncontacted tribes in peace, unless they face imminent danger A Brazilian military rescue team searches for Bruno Pereira and Dom Phillips on the Javari river, Brazil, on Tuesday.“The atmosphere has got so much worse in recent years because you have a president who foments violence,” said Fábio Ribeiro, OPI’s executive coordinator. “People who use these tactics gain in confidence with a government like this one. Bolsonaro has supported illegal mines and the impunity has grown massively. We can see that happening in front of our eyes.
“He’d see this as a situation that calls the world’s attention to what is going on in Indigenous land; the impunity, the violence, the government’s disregard for basic rights,” Ribeiro said. “And, of course for a new policy to protect isolated groups and their land.”sertanistas