Three years after British journalist Dom Phillips and Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira were brutally murdered in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest, the conditions that led to their deaths remain unchanged, according to a prominent Indigenous leader.
“Unfortunately, I can say that if Dom and Bruno were in the Javari Valley today, they would be killed again,” Beto Marubo told environmental news outlet Mongabay. Marubo represents the Union of Indigenous Peoples of the Vale do Javari (UNIVAJA) and works in Brazil’s capital advocating for Indigenous rights.
Phillips and Pereira were killed on June 5, 2022, while traveling through the remote Javari Valley in Amazonas state. Despite the international attention their deaths received, none of the perpetrators have been brought to trial. While Brazilian authorities conducted raids and investigations through the Federal Police and environmental agency IBAMA, these efforts fell short of addressing the root causes of violence in the region.
The core threats that led to the killings persist: drug trafficking and illegal invasions of Indigenous lands. Marubo explained that despite some government efforts following the murders, there remains no permanent federal presence in the area. The lack of consistent law enforcement allows criminal networks to continue operating with impunity, putting Indigenous communities and environmental defenders at ongoing risk. The Javari Valley, one of the world’s most biodiverse regions, continues to face pressure from illegal activities that threaten both its Indigenous inhabitants and critical rainforest ecosystems.