05 June 2022 | Associated Press
British journalist Dom Phillips killed in Brazil
Other non-natural
British journalist Dom Phillips, was killed in the Brazilian Amazon while researching for a book about how to save the world’s largest rainforest.
Phillips, 57, and Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira, 41, were killed on June 5 on their boat on the Itaquai river, near the entrance of the Javari Valley Indigenous Territory, which borders Peru and Colombia. Three fishermen from nearby riverine communities were arrested. Two of them confessed to the murders, according to the police.
The region holds a long conflict between and Indigenous tribes and poor fishermen hired to invade the Javari Valley to catch arapaima, turtles and game. Pereira, who was an official of Brazil’s Indigenous affairs bureau, fought these invasions for years and had received multiple threats for his work.
“He was killed because he tried to tell the world what was happening to the rainforest and its inhabitants,” said Phillips’ sister, Sian. “Dom understood the need for urgent change for political and economic approaches to conservation. His family and his friends are committed to continuing that work even in this time of tragedy. The story must be told.”
Phillips wrote about Brazil for 15 years, first covering the oil industry for Platts, later freelancing for The Washington Post and The New York Times and then regularly contributing to The Guardian. He was versatile, but gravitated toward features about the environment as it became his passion.
“As we remember Dom as a loving, fun and cool big brother,” said Sian, “we are sad he was denied the chance to share these qualities as a father for the next generation.”
Read the original article here: https://apnews.com/article/peru-caribbean-forests-journalists-brazil-6900c89dd2743d09a7b3ea1548697476
