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A6 WORLD NEWS
Wednesday 1 March 2023
Brazil delegation visits Amazon region where pair died

By FABIANO MAISONNAVE former President Jair Bolso-
ATALAIA DO NORTE, Brazil naro, the ransacking grew
(AP) — A high-level delega- worse. Pereira took leave
tion of the Brazilian govern- to help local Indigenous
ment traveled on Monday people catalog and report
to the remote corner of the illegal hunting and fishing
Amazon rainforest where on their own. In so doing, he
British journalist Dom Phillips ran afoul of the local illegal
and Indigenous expert Bru- fishing racket. Phillips, who
no Pereira were murdered was writing a book on the
last year, to demonstrate Amazon, was accompany-
just how much Brazil’s new ing him on an expedition
government differs from last June when they were
that of former far-right Presi- killed. Their disappearance
dent Jair Bolsonaro. prompted an internation-
The group was led by Sônia al outcry and a massive
Guajajara, Brazil’s first min- search. Once their bodies
ister of Indigenous Peoples. were found, chopped and
She was joined by the wid- burned, pressure mounted
ows of both slain men. The on authorities to find the kill-
trip involved several flights ers. Suspects in the murders
including a seaplane to ar- Alessandra Sampaio, widow of British journalist Dom Phillips, right, Beatriz Matos, widow of are in custody in federal
rive in Atalaia do Norte, an Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira, second right, Sonia Guajajara, Brazil’s first Minister of Indigenous prisons. There is no date set
Peoples, left, and Joenia Wapichana, President of the National Foundation for Indigenous Peoples,
impoverished city by the attend a ceremony in Atalaia do Norte, Vale do Javari, Amazonas state, Brazil, Monday, Feb. 27, for the trial. Brazil’s federal
banks of Javari River. 2023. police said last month that
“We are here to reestablish Associated Press a local fish trader, Ruben
the presence of the Brazil- Dario da Silva Villar, con-
ian government in the Ja- Monday marked the first an anthropologist who did ment will be always open ceived the crime and they
vari Valley region,” Gua- time that Pereira’s widow, her fieldwork in the region. to you,” she told the crowd. plan to indict him. Villar
jajara told a mostly Indig- Beatriz Matos, has returned Her husband had a similar The Javari Valley Indige- provided the ammunition
enous crowd gathered in to the place where her post until, frustrated with nous Territory is roughly the to kill the pair, made phone
a small, stifling auditorium. husband was murdered. the Bolsonaro government, size of Portugal and home calls to the confessed killer
“It is no longer possible for She was accompanied by he took leave to consult for to 6,300 people from sev- before and after the crime,
Indigenous people to be Alessandra Sampaio, Phil- the Javari Valley associa- en different ethnic groups, and paid his lawyer, police
cowed and afraid within lips’ widow. At several mo- tion of Indigenous people. some of whom have had said. He denies wrongdo-
their own territory.” ments, both were moved Addressing the crowd, no contact with the outside ing. Crime still plagues the
During his four-year term to tears, receiving warm Matos said her family and world. For years, the area border region. On Febru-
which ended in January, embraces, songs of trib- that of Dom Phillips would has been targeted by ille- ary 23, armed gunmen at-
Bolsonaro attempted to ute, handmade gifts, and be forever grateful for the gal fishermen and poach- tacked a federal boat be-
open Indigenous territories speeches of gratitude from commitment local people ers slipping past govern- longing to the Indigenous
to mining, large-scale ag- Indigenous people present. showed to finding the men, ment outposts to extract health agency near the
riculture, and logging. His Matos was recently named and “also the respect, the riches from the protected closest city; they made off
promises, combined with head of the Department care, the tributes, and the waters and forest. With envi- with the craft and thou-
the defanging of environ- for Territorial Protection spiritual guidance.” ronmental and Indigenous sands of liters of fuel. They
mental law enforcement, and Isolated and Newly “I will work for the govern- agencies woefully under- left two crew members
led to a surge of invasions Contacted Peoples at the ment and will carry Javari funded and understaffed bound and blindfolded in
into Indigenous territories. Indigenous ministry. She is along with me. The depart- during the administration of the woods.q

Mexican president: Mexico has more

democracy than U.S.

López Obrador’s testy com- Mexico’s sovereignty.” zations, the press, or Mexi-
ments came after U.S. of- The Mexican president re- can regulatory or oversight
ficials took note of heated sponded “there is more agencies.
public debate in Mexico democracy in Mexico than Price said in a statement
over López Obrador’s re- could exist in the United that “Today, in Mexico,
cently approved electoral States.” we see a great debate on
reforms, which critics allege “If they want to have a electoral reforms on the in-
could weaken Mexico’s debate on this issue, let’s dependence of electoral
democracy. The reforms do it,” López Obrador said and judicial institutions that
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador gives his would cut spending for the pugnaciously. “I have evi- illustrates Mexico’s vibrant
regularly scheduled morning press conference, decorated with country’s electoral authori- dence to prove there is democracy.”
an image of Francisco “Pancho” Villa, a general in the Mexican ties. López Obrador angrily more liberty and democ- “We respect Mexico’s sov-
Revolution, at the National Palace in Mexico City, Tuesday, Feb. rejected any U.S. com- racy in our country.” ereignty. We believe that
28, 2 ment, even though U.S. The Mexican president is a well-resourced, indepen-
Associated Press State Department spokes- notoriously touchy about dent electoral system and
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexi- cratic than the United man Ned Price was care- criticism, whether it comes respect for judicial inde-
co’s president said Tuesday States. ful to say in a statement from human rights groups, pendence support healthy
his country is more demo- President Andrés Manuel Monday that “We respect non-governmental organi- democracy.”q